


Something in the Wind

by la luna (moontrimmer)



Series: Encantadas [6]
Category: Amar a Muerte (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Artsy!Juls, F/F, Jock!Val, Underage Drinking, WARNING: Val gets a boyfriend (I know! Sorry!), suggestions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25501654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moontrimmer/pseuds/la%20luna
Summary: It's Valentina's fourth year at Ilvermorny; Juliana's second.Valentina joins the Quidditch Team, makes new friends, and deals with society's expectations on teenaged girls. Juliana finds her footing in Ilvermorny, becomes closer to her classmates, and begins to pursue and develop her interests.They remain the best of friends throughout it all, but a change is coming in the wind....
Relationships: Valentina Carvajal/Juliana Valdés
Series: Encantadas [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1381516
Comments: 70
Kudos: 97





	1. 1 - First Day High

**Author's Note:**

> Valentina and Juliana are 14 and 12, respectively, at the start of this fic, and will be 15 and 13 at the end of it.
> 
> Just to be upfront about it: they don't get together yet in this installment.
> 
> \---------------
> 
> WARNINGS:
> 
> As I said in the tags, Val will get a boyfriend here. (It's not Lucho.) I know... ick! I was not keen on doing it, but there's no way Val will not have boys pursuing her as she comes into her teenage years, and she'll feel pressured to date some boy just because it's expected of her. I promise that it's not "in your face" and the chapter where she gets together with the boy will come with a warning.
> 
> There will also be some suggestions of violence. Nothing happens to Val or Juls but it's bubbling under the surface (if that makes sense). I will also add a warning when we get to that chapter.

Valentina stood at the bottom of one the twin grand staircases in the Entrance Hall. She leaned against the newel post, her eyes flitting over the fireplaces that lined either side of the Hall as each new roar of flames announced the arrival of a student. Teachers and prefects dotted the place, ushering students out of the Hall as soon as they stepped out of the fireplace to make way for new arrivals.

It was the first day of school. The first years would not be arriving until the evening, but older students had been coming in since early morning.

Valentina wasn’t quite as early as Eva, the new Head Girl, but Guille had still been snoring in his room when she’d left the Carvajal mansion. She and her brother would have normally arrived together after lunchtime, but today she’d wanted to come early. Her dad, who had actually taken the time to see her off, had observed that he had never known her to be so excited about school before.

It wasn’t _school_ that she was excited about.

She couldn’t wait to see Juliana. The two of them hadn’t seen each other in person over the summer holidays. Valentina had invited Juliana to visit her in Mexico, but Juliana couldn’t do so because she’d been working a summer job. She also hadn’t wanted to leave her mother alone if she could help it.

Valentina had spent the past summer mostly hanging out with Guille, as well as Sergio, Lucho, Nayeli, and their other friends who went to school at Castelobruxo. She’d gone to Quidditch games with some of her friends and to shopping trips with others, and they’d all gone swimming together at the beach or at the Carvajal mansion’s large pool. She’d had a fun summer, but Valentina had often found herself wishing that Juliana had been there.

Juliana was just so… _different_ from everyone else. Valentina missed her a lot. They’d talked on their Floo Glasses almost every day, but that would never be the same as talking in person.

So now Valentina waited for Juliana to arrive, bouncing on her toes as she tried to curb her impatient energy.

Fortunately, she did not have long to wait.

Juliana stepped out of one of the fireplaces, pulling one of those Muggle luggages with wheels behind her. Valentina reckoned the luggage was new. It was smaller than the ones her Muggle-born classmates owned, but it was certainly bigger than the backpack Juliana had used to carry. Juliana looked so cute as she tugged it behind her while scanning the Entrance Hall, clearly in search of something.

Valentina waved her arms wildly about in order to get her attention. Juliana’s eyes fell on her and they broke out into matching wide grins, Juliana waving back in a far more placid manner.

They made their way towards each other.

“Hola,” Valentina greeted as she stopped in front of Juliana, ignoring the crowd of students around them.

“Hola,” Juliana returned, her smile mirroring Valentina’s.

And then they were hugging, swaying side-to-side as they embraced each other tightly.

“Te extrañé, Juls,” Valentina said, barely above a whisper. She hadn’t exactly been sad over the summer, but she felt happier now that Juliana was right in front of her.

“Te extrañé tambien, Val,” Juliana replied, running a hand up and down her back.

They were interrupted when someone bumped into them, muttering a hasty apology. One of the prefects asked them to stop hugging in the middle of the Entrance Hall. They pulled back only to start giggling when they caught each other’s eyes. The prefect came back and asked them to move out of the way, this time with a pleading note in his voice. They let out another burst of laughter before finally doing as requested, Valentina leading Juliana by the hand away from the hustle and bustle of the Entrance Hall.

“How was your trip here?” Valentina asked as they walked along a familiar corridor, still hand in hand. “Are you happy to be back? Did you manage to get all your school supplies?” she asked in quick succession. She paused for breath only to let out a small squeal immediately after. “I have something to tell you!”

Juliana chuckled before answering. “Trip was okay, my mom saw me off. Yes, I’m happy to be back…. Are we going to the dorms?”

Valentina glanced at her, smiling. She dropped Juliana’s hand only to put an arm around her shoulder. She really missed Juliana and she wanted her close. “I figured you’d want to get your wand first. And drop off your luggage,” she added in afterthought. Juliana didn’t hold on to Valentina’s hand over her shoulder, like she normally would have, because her own hand was occupied with the luggage.

“Yeah,” Juliana nodded. “Thanks,” she said, bumping playfully against her. “And thank you, again, for lending me some of your old books.”

Juliana had been planning on getting second-hand textbooks, reasoning that there was no point in getting new ones when they had the same content. When Valentina had asked why, pointing out that Ilvermorny would be covering her book expenses anyway, Juliana had said that she didn’t want to be wasteful even if it wasn’t her own money. Valentina had never thought much about the simple act of buying something, but Juliana’s answer had given her pause. That was when she had remembered that she had a shelf of her old textbooks sitting unused in the library at her house. She’d offered her second-year books to Juliana, who, for once, had accepted with only the tiniest bit of hesitation.

“Of course,” Valentina said. “I’ve got them in my trunk.” She’d had to reassure Juliana that it was no trouble for her to bring them, as her trunk could hold more than its apparent size and had functional legs so it could move about on its own. “It should be up in my dorm by now,” she added. She’d directed it to go up without her when she’d arrived. Letting the trunk move around by itself was frowned upon, but the prefects had been telling everyone to get their things out of the way and Valentina hadn’t wanted to miss Juliana’s arrival. She hoped it hadn’t run anyone over on its way up.

“Thanks again, Val,” Juliana said, looking up at her.

They gazed at each other for a moment, then almost stumbled over their own feet and Juliana’s luggage. Valentina drew her arm from Juliana’s shoulder and went back to holding her hand instead, the two of them laughing at their combined clumsiness.

“What did you want to tell me?” Juliana asked after they’d recovered.

“I ran into Gwen and Maddie earlier,” Valentina began, swinging their arms together in her excitement. “I asked them about the Quidditch tryouts and they said there’s a lot of openings in the team. Charles is now the main Seeker, which means they’re looking for a reserve. _And_ they also told me that there are three open Chaser spots if I wanted to try out for that.”

“That’s great, Val,” Juliana said enthusiastically, squeezing her hand in emphasis. “When’s tryouts? I can watch, right? Oh, can I bring a banner?”

“What, Juls, no! I mean, yes, of course, you can watch, but please don’t bring a banner. It’s only tryouts!”

Juliana’s only response was a teasing smirk and chuckle.


	2. 2-1 - Tryouts

The Quidditch tryouts were held on the first Saturday after the start of classes.

Juliana did not bring a banner, but she sat with Guille on the stands of the school’s makeshift Quidditch field, close to where Valentina and the rest of the hopefuls were gathered in front of the current members of the Quidditch Team.

Juliana scowled at the sight of Sergio and Lucho standing next to Valentina. The two boys had decided to try out as well when Valentina had told them of her plan to do so. They were trying out for the Reserve Seeker and Chaser spots, respectively, the same positions that Valentina had her eyes on. Juliana couldn’t understand why they thought it was a good idea to compete with Valentina for something she really wanted, but she’d kept her mouth shut. Anyway, Juliana was certain that Valentina would be chosen over either one of them.

Presently, it was Valentina’s turn to demonstrate her skills.

Juliana and Guille cheered loudly when she stepped forward, and cheered again when she declared her preferred positions.

Their cheers quickly died when James Brankovitch, the Quidditch Team Captain, glanced up from the parchment he’d been perusing, took one look at Valentina, and flatly told her that she wasn’t allowed to try out. The other team members started protesting, but the Captain seemed like he wouldn’t budge.

Valentina, looking very embarrassed, stepped away from the group. She told them not to bother arguing for her sake, then strode a few yards away before getting on her broom and kicking off the ground with practised ease, flying towards the other side of the castle.

There was a moment’s silence as everyone stared at Valentina’s retreating form, then Guille stood up, which got Juliana to start moving. She ran down the stands, stopping for a moment in front of the gathered group of Quidditch players. She hadn’t planned to do it, but the next thing she knew she was shouting at the Quidditch Captain, who was almost two feet taller than she was.

“Have fun losing all your games!”

Without giving him a chance to reply, she turned on her heel and half-ran, half-walked in the direction where Valentina had been heading.

Juliana didn’t know what had come over her. She’d made a promise to herself to keep her head down when she’d started at Ilvermorny, and she had more or less been able to keep that promise during her first year. Now, less than a full week into her second year, she had yelled at one of the school’s sports teams and wished them ill-luck in their games. But she did not regret her actions. That stupid Captain had upset Valentina, and she hated — _hated_ — seeing Valentina upset.

Juliana found her best friend in the broom shed.

Valentina was hanging her broom on the rack reserved for it. The broom was a new one, as far as Juliana could tell, though she didn’t know what its exact model was.

“Val,” she called out softly.

Valentina turned around and met Juliana’s gaze. Her eyes were watery, the blues becoming more vivid. She took a seat on one of the benches in the middle of the shed, shoulders slumped and lips downturned. Juliana sat down beside her, hands twitching, wishing there was something she could do to erase Valentina’s pout. She settled for holding Valentina’s hands.

“You know, I got a new broom thinking I’d have a good chance of making the team,” Valentina began. “But I don’t even get to try out,” she said, voice strained. “I guess I should have expected it,” she said self-deprecatingly. “James has never liked me, not since I backed out on that Reserve Seeker position my first year. I just thought he’d at least let me _try_ , even if he wouldn’t be friendly. _Stupid_ ,” she added under her breath, but Juliana heard her.

“Val,” Juliana began, squeezing her best friend’s hand.

She racked her brain for something to say. She had gone with Valentina and Guille to see the Ilvermorny Quidditch Team’s final game of the season in the previous school year. She had begun to understand the basics of it, but she wasn’t a big fan like Valentina and her brother. Juliana wondered if she should have let Guille come after Valentina, but she quickly dismissed the thought. There was no way she could have just sat and waited while Valentina was upset.

“You’re right,” Juliana finally said. When Valentina looked at her in confusion, she continued, “ _he’s_ stupid for not letting you try out over something that happened when you were in first year. That was three years ago. And the other players wanted you to try out. They were all arguing with him,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, but he’s the Captain,” Valentina replied.

“Doesn’t mean he isn’t wrong,” Juliana returned, talking not just about the Quidditch Captain’s decision but also his attitude. People who didn’t like Valentina were just _wrong_ , plain and simple.

Valentina smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Juliana could not stand seeing her upset. “Ven,” she said, letting go of Valentina’s hand only to pull her in a side-hug.

Valentina laid her head on Juliana’s shoulders, crown against her neck. Juliana held her closer, rubbing her thumb over Valentina’s arm.

“Do you want to prank him?” Juliana asked after a moment, only half-joking. Pranks were practically a tradition among Ilvermorny students. She had never participated in one, though she had always laughed when Valentina set up harmless pranks for Guille or Lucho and Sergio.

Valentina let out a short giggle.

“I’m serious! I can draw him as a troll or something, and we can make copies of it and post it around the school.”

Valentina giggled again, longer this time, her shoulders shaking against Juliana’s side.

“Qué?” Juliana said, smiling slightly. “I think it fits him.”

Aside from being the Captain, James Brankovitch was also one of the Quidditch Team’s Beaters. Even though his pale and pasty complexion was nothing like a troll’s, he was tall and muscular, like those football players from Muggle high schools, and he often carried a club.

“He might not even realise the difference,” she added.

“Juls!” Valentina said, pulling away from the hug to give Juliana a shocked look, but her eyes were dancing in mirth.

“Qué?” Juliana said again, putting on an innocent face. She could not feel bad about calling someone a troll if it meant Valentina’s smile reached her eyes again, especially if that someone did not like Valentina.

Valentina shook her head, but her slight smile had turned into a mischievous smirk. “You draw, I’ll do the _Gemino_.”

Juliana grinned. “Then we can put them in all the common rooms—”

“Yes, on the bulletin boards!”

“And in the corridors.”

“And the broom shed.”

“And the Entrance Hall—”

“On the statues!” they exclaimed in unison, and promptly burst out laughing.

That was how Guille found them. He stood in the doorway to the broom shed, looking baffled as he greeted them with a tentative, “Hi?”

“Guille,” said Valentina, her voice still breathy from laughter. “Hi.”

Juliana smiled at him.

Guille returned her smile with a grateful one before turning back to his sister. “Vale, they’re asking you to go back. The team, I mean. They’re asking you to try out.”

“What? Why? I mean… what?” Valentina crossed her arms, looking unhappy again. “I thought they didn’t want me to.”

Guille scowled, though it was obvious that it wasn’t directed at Valentina. “That was just Br—James. The others didn’t agree with him. They all argued with him to get you back.”

Valentina rolled her eyes as she pushed her tongue against the inside of her cheek. “I don’t want to join something if someone doesn’t want me there.”

Guille’s expression softened, turning sympathetic. He crossed the threshold and moved to sit on Valentina’s other side. “Oye,” he began, placing a hand on Valentina’s shoulder, “I understand. They asked me to come get you, but I won’t force you to go back there. But everyone on the team aside from James definitely wants you to try out. I mean, Stephanie chewed him out,” he said, referring to the team’s best Chaser. “She said it wasn’t just his decision, and she’s right. Maddie even threatened to quit, and Maddie’s like, super chill. And Gwen said she’ll beat him with his own bat.”

“Really?” Valentina asked, looking up at Guille.

Juliana could hear the note of amusement in her voice. Gwen was James’ Beating partner, but she was much smaller than him, being of a similar build to Stephanie and Diana, another Chaser. Valentina had explained the strategy behind Gwen and James’ partnership to Juliana, but she hadn’t really absorbed it.

“Yeah,” Guille said, smiling. “It was pretty funny.” He sniggered before adding, “Although it was funnier when Juliana here yelled at the team that they’ll lose all their games.”

Juliana flushed. She had almost forgotten about that.

Valentina twisted in her seat to look at Juliana. “Juls, you did that? When?”

“Uhm, before I left to find you,” Juliana replied. “I was mad that they wouldn’t let you try out. It kind of just… slipped out?” she added sheepishly.

Valentina looked absolutely tickled. “You are crazy!” she exclaimed, pouncing on Juliana with a hug that trapped her arms to her sides.

Movement limited, Juliana reciprocated by patting Valentina’s arm. Valentina hugged her tightly that it was almost uncomfortable, but Juliana welcomed it.

Guille laughed at the two of them. “Güey, let her breathe, Valentina,” he said after a moment, still laughing.

Valentina finally pulled away from Juliana, though she made sure to stick her tongue out at her brother.

Guille only grinned at her. “So, what do you say? You wanna go back out there and show them what they could have missed?”

Valentina looked at Juliana.

Juliana gave her an encouraging smile. “It’s up to you, Val. But it’d be cool to make banners when you get on the team,” she added with a grin. She had never had a friend who played in a sports team before. She was certain she would enjoy making all kinds of banners with Valentina’s name on them. In fact, she already had a few ideas.

Valentina beamed at her before turning back to Guille. “Okay, vámonos!”

⁂

Juliana and Guille went back to their spot on the stands as Valentina made her way to the group of Quidditch Team members and hopefuls conducting tryouts on the pitch. Apart from James, everyone on the team gave her a welcoming smile, as did some of the students hoping for a spot. Lucho and Sergio both put an arm around her, and she smiled at them in return. James didn’t say a word about his previous actions, neither to apologise nor to stand his ground, but he was civil as he told her that she needed to run drills with Charles for the Reserve Seeker position and with Stephanie for the Chaser spot.

Valentina didn’t find the Seeker drills too difficult. The first one involved catching the Golden Snitch five times. Each time, Charles would release the Snitch, giving it an increasingly longer head start, before letting Valentina fly after it. The next drill had her going up against Charles while James took over releasing the Golden Snitch. She beat Charles three times out of five, but he seemed excited about it instead of put off. He told her happily that the only other person who’d been able to beat him was Lucho, but he’d only done so once. Lucho scowled at the two of them, but Valentina ignored him. Lucho had always been a sore loser, and, for some reason, he particularly hated being bested by her.

The Chaser drills took longer and were a bit more complicated, but they were also a lot more fun. The first set of drills involved different passing and shooting techniques. After that, Stephanie set up a scrimmage among everyone who was trying out for a Chaser spot, splitting them into two teams. There were five hopefuls including Valentina, so Trevor, one of the current Chasers, played with them. Maddie and Mark, the current Reserve Keeper, joined in to guard the goalposts. The scrimmage game lasted for about half an hour, with Valentina’s team winning by a single goal. Valentina and Sergio were on the same team, and he was quick to point out, under his breath, that their team was handicapped because Maddie was so good at blocking their shots.

The tryouts ended soon after that, with the sun slowly sinking towards the far horizon. Apart from a few hopefuls who did not even know how to fly, James told everyone who had tried out to meet the Quidditch Team at the Great Hall the following morning. They would find out then if they had gotten in the team.

Having been dismissed, Valentina strode towards Juliana and Guille in the stands, Lucho and Sergio trailing behind her. She flung her arms around her best friend and her brother. When she let go, Guille assured her that she had done really well, going so far as to pick out moves he thought had impressed the Quidditch Team. Juliana, on the other hand, simply said that she had flown really well, but it made Valentina feel like she had already won something.


	3. 2-2 - The Quidditch Team

The morning after the Quidditch tryouts, Valentina woke up filled with nervous energy. She went down to the common room to find Juliana already up and waiting for her. They were joined shortly by Sergio, and the three of them made their way to the Great Hall together.

The Quidditch Team had seated themselves at one of the long tables in the middle of the Great Hall. Juliana squeezed Valentina’s hand and bid both her and Sergio good luck before splitting off towards one of the smaller tables by the enchanted windows.

Valentina and Sergio joined the Quidditch Team. They weren’t the last ones there, but everyone else, Lucho included, soon joined them. Gwen was the last one to arrive, her hair an unruly mop, as though she had just woken up. She mumbled an apology as she took a seat beside Maddie, discreetly squeezing the Keeper’s arm. James nodded, his face straight, but the rest of the team gave her a smile and Maddie put an arm around her.

James cleared his throat. “So, I want to talk about the Reserve Seeker position first,” he began. “Unlike Chasers and Beaters, where we can rotate the players depending on the strategy for a game, it’s not a good idea to rotate Seekers, same as Keepers.”

Valentina didn’t know where he was going with his speech, but she understood what he meant about not rotating Seekers and Keepers. Those singular positions needed players to have game confidence and experience, not to mention, they needed to gel with the rest of the team, which meant switching between two players for a single position could be counterproductive.

“It means,” James continued, “that Charles here would have to be injured--”

The Seeker gave a joking grimace in acknowledgment.

“--in order for the Reserve Seeker to be able to play. But, the Reserve Seeker also needs to be ready _if_ , heaven forbid, Charles does get injured. It’s a position that needs commitment to the team.”

Valentina stared down at her hands on the table. James was looking around at everyone, but she could have sworn that his eyes lingered on her when he said that last part.

“The same thing actually goes for the new Chaser spots,” said James. “We’re not a pro team. As far as I can see, only Steph, Diana, and Trevor would be able to play _this season_ ,” he said, naming the team’s current Chasers. “But Steph and Diana are in seventh year, and Trevor’s in sixth, which means we need younger players to be ‘waiting in the wings’ and ready to take over when they eventually graduate.

“As for the Beater position,” James said, naming the last open spot, “Gwen and I have come up with a strategy for a smoother rotation of players. So, hopefully, Landon,” he named the other Beater who was already on the team, “and the new Beater will have more playing time. But that is not assured, and we would still need this new Beater to commit even if they don’t get to play in actual games, same as the others.”

James looked around at all of the hopefuls before asking, “Is everyone clear with that?”

There was a chorus of affirmative answers, after which the Quidditch Captain started calling out those who had gotten in.

The first person named was Darius, who had tried out for the open Beater position. Gwen and Landon gave him a high five, followed by the rest of the team except for James.

After the round of high fives, James turned to Valentina. “Listen Valentina,” he began, “you’re a good flier. There’s no question about that, it’s why you got the Reserve Seeker position your first year. I’m still not happy you backed out on that one _four months_ after you had gotten in, by the way—”

“James.” It was Stephanie, her tone flat. The Quidditch Captain often went by a nickname among his teammates, so Valentina could tell she wasn’t pleased with him.

“But,” James said, “these guys made me give you a chance. You better not make me regret it.”

Valentina pressed her lips together. “Of course,” she said, nodding.

James resumed talking. “Anyway, as I was saying, you’re a good flier. In fact, I can admit that you are the best flier among those who tried out. But…” he glanced at Stephanie.

The Chaser took over. “You’re also pretty good at scoring goals. That’s a harder skill to find.”

Valentina nodded in understanding. Most wizarding households owned brooms, but only a paltry few had Quidditch pitches in their backyard. The one in the Carvajal mansion was not as big as an official pitch, but it had goalposts on both ends as well as the necessary enchantments.

“Which is why,” Stephanie said, “as much as Charles here wanted you to be his reserve—”

Charles smiled at Valentina.

“—I had to assert seniority, and strategic sense, really, to have you as a Chaser. So, on behalf of the team, I want to welcome you as the first of our new Chasers. Congrats!”

Stephanie held out her hand across the table for a high five. Beaming, Valentina met it with her own hand. The rest of the team, apart from James, also held out their hands for a high five, and Valentina happily gave it to them.

After that, Stephanie named the two other people who made the Chaser position: Jonathan and Tajmina. The latter said that they could call her “Tash” and, at third year, she was the youngest player in the team.

Lucho was named for the Reserve Seeker spot. Valentina thought it was ironic, considering that he had been the one who had convinced her to back out during her first year, but she congratulated him enthusiastically all the same.

Sergio did not look too happy that he hadn’t gotten in. He left the table with the others who hadn’t made the cut, giving Valentina and Lucho a backwards glance. He looked utterly disappointed. Valentina felt so bad for him that she missed the first part of James’ spiel about practice schedules.

Finally, James wrapped up his instructions for the new members of the Quidditch Team. “And… that’s it,” he said, unsmiling as ever. “I will see you all on Wednesday, and to everyone in the fifth year and below, don’t forget to have your permission forms signed. You won’t be able to practise outside of school otherwise.”

⁂

Juliana did her best to keep a blank face as Sergio lamented to her about not making the Quidditch Team.

She had been drawing on her sketchbook, trying out different banner designs for when Valentina would play in a game, when Sergio had plopped on the seat across from her. Without prompting, he had told her that he hadn’t made the team but that Valentina had gotten one of the Chaser spots.

Juliana felt a little bad for him, but his whiny voice annoyed her and he complained that Valentina had gotten in and he hadn’t when they had been on the same scrimmage team the day before. Juliana didn’t need to know much about Quidditch to have seen that Sergio had played nowhere near as well as Valentina. In fact, he hadn’t played well at all. Juliana suspected that he’d only decided to try out because Valentina had, and now he couldn’t even be happy for her.

To Juliana’s relief, she saw the old and new members of the Quidditch Team stand up from their table, dispersing in different directions. Valentina’s huge grin was apparent as she approached Juliana, skipping as she walked. Lucho was following her and, strangely, so was Charles.

“Juls, I made the team!” Valentina said happily, flinging her arms around Juliana as she sat next to her.

“I heard,” Juliana said, elated for her best friend. When Valentina pulled back, Juliana tucked strands of Valentina’s hair behind her shoulder. “Congrats, Val! I’m happy for you.”

“Gracias, Juls,” Valentina said. A moment later, her face fell and she turned to Sergio, who was sitting across the table. “I’m sorry you didn’t get in, Sergio.”

The boy shrugged, though he started to smile. “It’s alright, Vale. I’ll just cheer for you and this guy,” he said, putting an arm around Lucho, who had sat next to him.

Before anyone else could reply, Charles jumped in on the conversation. “Hey, Valentina?” he began.

Valentina looked surprised as she turned to him, as though she hadn’t realised that he had been trailing behind her.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” Charles asked in English. “My friends haven’t come down yet, so I thought I could get breakfast with you guys instead.”

“Sure,” Valentina said graciously. “Please join us.”

She moved closer to Juliana to give Charles room to sit. For some reason, Lucho started glaring daggers at the older boy.

Valentina turned back to Juliana, asking if she’d had breakfast yet. Juliana shook her head in response, telling Valentina that she had been waiting for her. Valentina volunteered to get their food, but Charles jumped in just then, offering to get both of their breakfast trays. Before Juliana and Valentina could reply, Lucho stood up abruptly, declaring that he would help too. They made their way to the ordering counter, followed by Sergio, who complained that the other two boys hadn’t offered to get him food as well.

Finally left to themselves, Juliana and Valentina looked at each other, both seeing their bafflement at the boys’ behaviour on the other’s face, and burst into giggles.

⁂⁂⁂

Valentina began settling into a routine of twice-weekly practices with her new team. Since the Quidditch season would not officially start until the middle of October, the first few weeks of practices consisted of light drills, lighthearted pickup games, and getting to know her teammates.

James still didn’t seem to like her very much, but he was civil, and he insisted that she call him “Branchy” like the rest of their teammates. At first, Valentina couldn’t use the nickname without almost giggling, remembering how Juliana had thought that he had it because he was, in her words, “as tall as a tree.” In fact, the nickname was based on his last name, which he shared with Maddie.

Valentina already knew about it, but some of the new members were surprised by the fact that James and Maddie were cousins. What confused her, at least initially, was how the old team members always referred to Maddie with “they” or “them”. When asked about it, Gwen explained that those were the pronouns Maddie preferred. Maddie said that they wouldn’t be offended if people slipped and called them “she”, but James looked like _he_ would take it as an offense. With or without James’ protective attitude, Valentina was happy to call Maddie what they wanted to be called. She slipped a few times, but Maddie was always gracious, and it didn’t take long for Valentina to use “they” for Maddie as naturally as she used “he” and “she” for the other members of the team.

Valentina spent most of practice with her fellow Chasers so she learned the most about them. Besides Gwen, Stephanie was the friendliest of the old members, always having a ready smile for everyone. She was also the most soft-spoken, quite the contrast to Diana, who had a loud voice and an even louder laugh. Despite that, they seemed like the best of friends, and Valentina often heard them trading make-up and style tips even as they passed the Quaffle back and forth between them. Trevor liked to complain good-naturedly about it but the three of them made a good Chasing trio.

The older Chasers seamlessly folded Valentina, Tash, and Jonathan into their little group. Jonathan was clearly a joker, his quips somehow made funnier by his British accent. He had grown up in the United Kingdom and was a huge fan of the Holyhead Harpies, a fact which he never failed to remind everyone. Valentina couldn’t blame him; the Harpies, an all-female Quidditch team, was one of the most successful teams in the British and Irish league. Tash, on the other hand, was quieter. Valentina wondered if that was simply her nature, or if it was because she was the youngest member of the team. She felt a kind of sisterly protectiveness towards the girl, which she initially attributed to Tash being the first friend she had, other than Juliana, who was younger than her. However, even though she knew she was protective of Juliana, she didn’t feel _sisterly_ towards her, so Valentina decided that her regard towards Tash was brought on by the fact that they were teammates.

Valentina wasn’t quite as close with Landon and Darius, but she liked them well enough. They weren’t as gregarious as Gwen but they weren’t too serious like James either, and they seemed to provide a calm balance to the other two Beaters.

The two people Valentina actually hung out with outside of Quidditch practices were Lucho and Charles. The two of them had taken to joining her and Juliana on meal times before or after Quidditch practices. It had surprised her at first. She had forgiven Lucho for the horrible things he’d said to Juliana after he’d apologised for them, but they had stopped hanging out too often even after that. On the other hand, she and Charles had never been friends before. She couldn’t exactly tell them to go away, however, so she let them tag along, although she didn’t know why they did. The two boys seemed to dislike each other. That dislike extended to Quidditch practices, and James often had to remind them, severely, about practising together instead of competing.

It wasn’t until Lucho and Charles started competing over walking her to classes that she began to have a sinking suspicion of what was happening. She hoped she was wrong.


	4. 3-1 - In the Stands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The OCs here (Juliana's classmates) were introduced in a previous installment: [The Ghost in the Attic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22535488)

Juliana idly watched the Quidditch game happening in front of her between Ilvermorny and Seven Sparks. Her hands fidgeted with the folded-up banner on her lap, her interest having dwindled as the match had progressed and it had become increasingly clear that Valentina wouldn’t be subbed in anytime soon, or at all.

Valentina hadn’t gotten to play in any of the games since she’d gotten in Ilvermorny’s Quidditch Team, and it seemed like this time would be no different. Juliana admired her best friend’s patience about it. The Christmas holidays had come and gone, and still Valentina remained on the bench, as did the other newer members of the Quidditch team. Valentina had said that she hadn’t expected otherwise, but Juliana knew she would have wanted to play an actual match.

Bored, Juliana’s attention wandered around the place where the match was being held. Since Ilvermorny didn’t have a full-sized Quidditch pitch, the school team played their matches in a nearby stadium. They considered it their home ground, although they apparently shared it with one other school team and one professional club. Since they were held outside of school, Ilvermorny students needed permission to watch the games, but the team was allowed to give a season-long pass for home games to fifty students of their choice. Juliana had been given a pass, courtesy of Valentina, as was Guille.

Valentina’s brother was sitting with his friends, a few rows and several seats away from Juliana. He’d used to sit with her during the first few home games but Juliana had told him that he didn’t have to, and he’d relented when she’d assured him that she didn’t mind sitting by herself.

Today, however, Juliana wasn’t by herself. Her classmates Grace, Alanna, and Kieran were with her. Kieran had often come to the home games with a few other boys, but this time Grace and Alanna had dragged him to where Juliana was seated. Juliana wondered what the two girls were doing there, but she chose not to ask.

“Ugh, when is this going to end?” Grace asked. “This game is so long.”

Juliana privately agreed with her.

“I told you, until Charles catches the Snitch,” Kieran replied, not looking away from the match.

“Or the other team’s Seeker does,” Alanna said pointedly.

“Nah,” said Kieran, his eyes still on the game, “Charles will catch it, I’m sure. The Seven doesn’t have a good team.”

Alanna crossed her arms, giving him a critical look. “What, just because they’re from a Native American collective?”

Kieran turned away from the match to face her. “No. Quidditch is just not the sport they focus on. Now if you talk about broom races, they’ll blow everyone out of the water.”

A loud roar suddenly erupted around the stadium, and Juliana snapped her attention towards the game in time to see the Seven’s Seeker rushing towards the ground, Charles at her heels. The Seven’s Seeker pulled up at the last second from what was obviously a baiting dive; Charles followed her, but the tail end of his broom hit the ground, sending him rolling across the grass. Juliana and the others stood up, but Charles seemed fine, and he was back on his broom a few minutes later.

Juliana sat back down, thinking that Valentina would have been able to pull off that dive-and-rise to perfection. Alanna and Grace took their seats as well, but Kieran remained standing. He declared that he didn’t want to be distracted from the game, then went to join the group of boys he usually sat with. The two girls stared at his retreating back before looking at each other and shrugging. They then turned to Juliana.

“Do you usually come to see the games, Juliana?” asked Grace. It was obvious that she was no longer interested in the current match.

Juliana welcomed the distraction. “Yeah,” she said, “but only starting this school year. I’m just here for Val,” she added, absently patting the banner on her lap.

“Oh, is that a banner for her?” asked Alanna.

“Can we see it?” Grace added.

Juliana hesitated for a second before unfolding the banner and showing it to her classmates. On the rectangular cloth was a moving drawing of Valentina, in her light blue and deep red Ilvermorny Quidditch robes, flying towards a goal post and scoring a goal in a repeated motion. At the top of the banner were the words “Vamos Valentina” in Ilvermorny blue-and-red block letters, which turned glittery at the same time as the Valentina in the drawing scored the goal.

“So cool!” Grace exclaimed.

“Wow,” said Alanna. “I knew you could draw, but I didn’t know you could draw on that scale.”

Juliana gave her a tight smile, hoping the girl didn’t mean it as a compliment. She’d only just begun to learn how to handle compliments from Valentina, but it still made her feel awkward when other people did it.

“Val hasn’t gotten to play though,” Juliana said, deflecting. “So,” she folded up the banner again, “yeah…”

“I hope she gets to play soon,” Grace said, while Alanna nodded beside her.

Juliana’s smile turned genuine. “Yeah, me too.”

The three of them were quiet for several minutes, with Juliana turning back to the game while Alanna and Grace talked under their breaths. Juliana tried not to listen, but they seemed to be discussing some kind of bet.

“Say, Juliana,” Alanna started aloud.

“Al,” Grace said, her tone disapproving.

Juliana turned away from the game to look at the two girls. Alanna was wearing a determined expression, while Grace seemed sheepish.

“You and Valentina are best friends, right?” Alanna continued as though she hadn’t heard her friend.

Bemused, Juliana answered slowly, “Yes…”

“Do you— ” Alanna began, but she was cut off as Grace abruptly pulled her by the arm.

Juliana gaped as a minor scuffle ensued between the two friends, which ended when Grace seemed to give in. They both turned back to her.

“Who’s Valentina really going out with?” Alanna asked frankly. Beside her, Grace looked half-apologetic, half-curious. “Is it Charles or Lucho?”

Juliana didn’t know what she’d been expecting Alanna to say, but _that_ was not it. “Wh-what?” she said, less a question and more as a way to stall as she tried to process what her classmate had said.

“I mean,” said Alanna, “she’s been hanging out with both of them a lot. Well, you two have, but my older brother, he has a crush on her,” she added, matter-of-fact. “He’s rather shy so he doesn’t talk to her, but he told me that he sees Charles and Lucho walk her to class sometimes — not at the same time, of course.”

“What?”

“Oh, or she still, you know,” Alanna grinned conspiratorially, “deciding between them.”

“What?”

“You don’t have to answer that if you don’t have to, Juliana,” Grace chimed in. “We were just curious.”

“What?” Juliana was beginning to feel like a broken record. “She’s not— she’s not— _going out_ with either one of them.”

It was true that Charles and Lucho sometimes joined them at the Great Hall, but those were only because they were coming from or going to Quidditch practices. During those times, all they ever talked about was Quidditch. Juliana liked how animated Valentina got when talking about a team or player or game she liked, so she hadn’t really minded those conversations. Besides, Valentina, as well as Charles, always made sure to include her, even though the only thing that really interested Juliana were the Quidditch team logos and uniforms.

“Are you sure?” Alanna asked.

“Yes!” Juliana said, annoyed.

Literally, the only thing Valentina ever talked about with Charles and Lucho was Quidditch! Surely, that was all there was to it. Wasn’t it?

“Maybe she hasn’t told you?”

“I’m her _best friend_. She would have told me if—” Juliana cut herself off when something Alanna had said earlier registered in her brain.

Charles and Lucho had been walking Valentina to classes and Juliana hadn’t known. Valentina hadn’t told her.

Maybe it was nothing, Juliana told herself. Surely Valentina would have told her if… if she liked _a boy_. And Valentina had never talked to her about any boy. It was one of Juliana’s favourite things about her best friend.

Jane and Lina sometimes talked about boys, as did all of her roommates, including Alanna, who was supposed to be a sensible person. Juliana never had anything to contribute to those conversations. Out of all the girls she was friends or friendly with, Valentina was the only one who had never talked about boys. Juliana liked that, liked that she didn’t have to talk about them either. However, she was becoming uneasily and uncomfortably aware that girls had crushes on boys, quite often, and maybe Valentina was not an exception to that.

Just then, Ilvermorny’s part of the stadium erupted in cheers. Charles had caught the Golden Snitch, bringing about Ilvermorny’s first win of the season. Every Ilvermorny student stood up, but Juliana remained seated, a weight settling in her stomach, heavy and inexplicable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of the Native American team is based on the "Seven Council Fires" (Oceti Sakowin), which is the proper name of the people commonly known as the Sioux. [Here's some information about it](http://aktalakota.stjo.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8309).
> 
> I thought "Seven Sparks" would be a pretty cool name because 1) it references the Oceti Sakowin, 2) there are 7 players in a Quidditch team, and 3) they're just "sparks" because they're kids. (I hope this is okay. 😬)
> 
> Things I learned while researching this:  
> \- There is such a thing as the North American Indigenous Games. ([Twitter account here](https://twitter.com/naigcouncil).) (I didn't base the Quidditch team name from any of the teams competing there (their team names are based on the geographic locations of the competitors), but I just came across this while searching for stuff.)  
> \- "Sioux" is actually an exonym based on a French transcription. It can refer to the Oceti Sakowin peoples or the language they speak.


	5. 3-2 - Common Room Chat

Valentina stood in front of the mirror in her dorm room, giving her reflection a critical once-over. She was wearing Muggle clothes: dark jeans, a white shirt, and what her Muggle-born classmate Sierra called a “letterman-style” jacket. It was the first time she’d worn Muggle clothes, on Sierra’s suggestion. Sierra, who was Valentina’s closest friend among her roommates, had lent her the jacket and jeans. The girl was curvier than Valentina, so they’d had to charm the clothes to fit her, at least for the night.

They were going to a party in the dungeons to celebrate Ilvermorny’s first win of the season. The team could invite anyone they wanted who was in the third year and above, which meant that Juliana could not come. Valentina had instead extended invitations to her roommates; Sierra and two other girls had happily accepted.

“Looking good, girl,” Sierra said as she stood beside Valentina to check her own reflection in the mirror.

Valentina smiled in thanks. “You too,” she told Sierra, who was also wearing a Muggle outfit. “Are you sure I have to wear this jacket?” she asked, adjusting the friendship bracelet Juliana had given her underneath the jacket’s cuff.

“Yes!” Sierra said as she put on her earrings. “That’s what all the sporty Muggle kids wear. Trust me, I’ve been told that I’m a good stylist.”

Valentina couldn’t help but think about Juliana, who liked not so much styling people’s clothes but sketching them. Juliana also wore plain shirts and worn jeans with such natural grace. Valentina, on the other hand, felt awkward in her clothes. She wondered if Juliana would like them.

She was interrupted from her musings when one of her roommates asked if Charles and Lucho were going to be there. Valentina answered in the affirmative, pointing out that they were also in the Quidditch team, but her roommates teased her anyway. They also teased her about Aldrin, one of their classmates, telling her that he would be heartbroken because she was going to a party with the other two boys.

Valentina could only respond with a smile and a good-natured roll of her eyes. Her classmates had been teasing her about the three boys for months, cheerfully informing her that the boys fancied her. She took their teasing with good humour, but she couldn’t relate to their excitement over them, or over boys in general. She wondered if there was something wrong with her, and so she’d covered with agreeable smiles whenever the topic came up. And it had come up frequently. Even Eva had subtly hinted that she preferred Charles over Lucho or anyone else. Nayeli had said about the same thing.

The thing was, none of the boys had ever outright told her that he liked her. Valentina thought that if they had, then maybe she’d have a better answer on who she liked, or liked better at least. But for now, Valentina thought nothing of their actions. She hadn’t even told Juliana that Charles and Lucho had been walking her to classes. It wasn’t important. Besides, she and Juliana had never talked about boys; Valentina wanted to keep it that way.

Valentina and her roommates finished getting ready after a few rounds of teasing, most of them directed at the other girls after Valentina did some deflecting. Valentina headed down to the common room with Sierra and the two other girls who’d accepted her invitation. Valentina was going to wait for Sergio to come down so they could go to the party together. Sierra chose to stick with her, but their two roommates decided to go ahead without them. After giving the two girls the password to be able to get into the party, Valentina strode towards Juliana, who was sitting with her classmates in the couches by the window.

Not for the first time, Valentina wished Juliana could come with her. She’d told her best friend that she could sneak in to the party. Valentina herself had done so a few times before with Sergio, Nayeli, and Lucho, when they’d still been in their first and second years and a lot of fun events had been restricted to them. However, Juliana was a lot more hesitant than Valentina when it came to breaking the rules. Valentina would never force Juliana to do something she didn’t want, so Valentina had offered to stay with her instead. Juliana had looked at her like she’d grown two heads and had insisted that Valentina go to the party, pointing out that it was for her team’s first win of the season.

The look Juliana was giving her now was not dissimilar, though she seemed more surprised than anything else. Maybe. When Valentina stopped in front of her and Juliana continued her silent staring, Valentina started tugging self-consciously at her jacket. Maybe Sierra was not as good a “stylist” as she’d claimed.

“Do I look okay?” Valentina asked her best friend shyly. She spoke in English to be polite to Sierra, as well as to Juliana’s classmates. “Sierra suggested I wear a ‘sporty Muggle outfit’ and she lent these to me,” she said, gesturing at her jacket and jeans.

Juliana blinked, seemingly shaking herself out of her what-must-be surprise at Valentina’s outfit. “Uh—”

“Juliana,” Sierra jumped in, “please tell Valentina that she looks good. She won’t believe me when I tell her that this is what the Muggle sports jocks wear.”

“I didn’t say that I don’t believe you,” Valentina protested. “I’m just not sure if I’m pulling this off,” she added, looking towards Juliana.

“I— you look good Val,” Juliana said, her voice softer than normal.

“Really?” Valentina almost whispered, looking into Juliana’s eyes and feeling relieved to find sincerity in them.

“Yeah,” said Juliana, smiling, her voice louder. “You’re definitely pulling that off. You— it looks great!”

Valentina smiled widely then. She sat on the arm of the couch beside Juliana and gave her a sideways hug. “Thank you!”

“Oh, you believe her but not me?” Sierra said in a mock-offended tone as she took a seat on a nearby armchair.

Valentina responded with a sheepish shrug. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Sierra, she just needed Juliana’s opinion.

She turned back to her best friend. “I’m sorry you can’t go to the party, Juls,” Valentina lamented, squeezing Juliana’s shoulder.

Juliana tapped Valentina’s hand. “It’s alright, Val,” she said. “I’m just hanging out with these two tonight,” she added, motioning to her classmates Grace and Alanna.

Juliana didn’t seem too cut up about missing a party. Valentina knew it was because she wasn’t into those kinds of things. It was why Valentina hadn’t insisted that she sneak in, even though she knew from experience that there would be little chance of Juliana getting caught.

Valentina looked between Juliana and her classmates. “What are you guys up to?” she asked, arm still around Juliana’s shoulders.

Juliana and Grace made a face while Alanna cheerfully replied, “Homework.”

“Transfiguration _theory_ homework,” Juliana said, giving Valentina a deadpan look. “With all the equations,” she added darkly.

Valentina chuckled at Juliana’s expression. “Do you need help?” she offered. She’d found that spell equations often came easy to her. Besides, “I’ve gone through that subject before.”

“Val, no,” Juliana said gently, “you’re going to a party.”

Valentina shrugged. “I can catch up—”

“Oh no you’re not, Valentina,” Sierra interrupted. “I didn’t lend you that outfit so you can _do homework_. We’re going as soon as Sergio comes down. What is taking him so long anyway?”

“He always takes long to get ready,” said Valentina.

“Ugh!” Grace exclaimed before anyone else could reply. “It’s not fair that first and second years never get to go to anything fun. We’re not allowed in parties outside of the common room, and we don’t get weekends away from school.” 

“Patience, young padawan,” Sierra said, mockingly serene. “ _We_ ,” she gestured at herself and Valentina, “did our time, and so should you.”

Grace gave Sierra a half-confused, half-outraged look. Valentina was just confused, and, it seemed, so was Alanna.

“Pada- _what_?” said Grace.

Juliana started chuckling.

Valentina looked down at her best friend, smiling at her infectious laughter, which gave her a hint of what Sierra was talking about. “I think it’s some Muggle thing,” she explained to Juliana’s classmates.

“Muggle thing.” Sierra sounded insulted. “ _Muggle thing_. I—I can’t with you purebloods,” she said, leaning heavily against the back of her chair, which gave a soft ‘thump’ at the contact.

Alanna spoke up after a moment. “Well, there’s the year-end play,” she said primly. “That’s open to first and second years,” she told Grace.

“Play?” Juliana asked, her brows furrowing adorably. “What play?”

“What do you mean ‘what play’?” said Alanna. “The plays that the Drama Club presents every end of the year.”

Juliana looked bemused. Alanna opened her mouth, probably to elaborate, but Sierra beat her to it.

“Waitwaitwaitwait— _wait_ ,” Sierra said, sitting forward in her chair again. “Are you telling me that you don’t know about the one thing— the _one fun-related thing_ that witches and wizards do better than Muggles?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s the _one_ thing,” Valentina muttered. She’d learned about some non-magical sports in her Muggle Studies class. None of them involved flying.

“Valentina!” Sierra turned on her. “You have failed Juliana as a friend,” she said dramatically. “Why didn’t you tell her about last year’s play?”

Valentina bit her lip. The Drama Club had presented _The Tale of the Three Brothers_ the previous school year. Valentina had already seen it twice before. The first time had been in London, when her mother had still been alive. Her mom, who had loved stories in all forms, would often take Valentina and her siblings to grand plays and musicals in the most renowned theatre districts the world over. The second time Valentina had seen the play had been back in Mexico, when Sergio had innocently invited her to a Spanish-language showing with his family, over a year after her mom had passed away. She remembered preferring the Wand the first time she’d seen the play, and then wanting, no, _obsessing_ over the Stone on the second time.

Valentina had been avoiding any story that reminded her of her mom, which was why she preferred the Muggle novels Sierra recommended to her, but the one with the Resurrection Stone felt like a dark shadow wrapping around her heart. She’d done such a good job of ignoring last year’s play that she hadn’t even thought to tell Juliana about it.

She felt Juliana’s hand brush hers, pulling her out of her dark thoughts.

“What’s up with the plays here?” Juliana asked Sierra. The forced casualness of her tone told Valentina that she had gone quiet too long, and that Juliana was filling the silence. “I mean, why do you think it’s better than Muggle ones?”

Sierra’s eyes darted to Valentina in concern before she answered Juliana. “Magic! The production’s way better because they can just charm and transfigure stuff. Like… you’ve been to Muggle school plays right?”

Juliana shook her head. “No.”

“What? Why not?”

Juliana’s expression went blank, and she started worrying her fingernails with her mouth.

“Is it because of the Latina thing?” Sierra continued talking. “They said Latinx parents are strict. But I think black parents are just as strict, and my mom let me go to school plays.”

Valentina suspected that whatever prevented Juliana from going to school plays was more than just her parents being strict. She squeezed her best friend’s shoulder. “What play are they presenting this year again?” she asked the others, attempting to shift the subject a little for Juliana’s benefit.

“Oh, it’s _The Fountain of Fair Fortune_ ,” Alanna said, sounding excited. “I think the Drama Club’s current director is obsessed with Beedle the Bard. It’s, well… it’s a little juvenile, but _Fountain_ looks good on stage.”

Valentina smiled. “What do you think, Juls?” she asked, looking down at Juliana, who dropped her hand at the question. “Do you want to see the play? These two are right,” she said, motioning to Alanna and Sierra. “Well, I don’t know about Muggle plays, but the plays I’ve seen look amazing. And I think you’d love this one, they usually have the characters wearing unique clothes that fit their personalities.”

Valentina had seen _The Fountain of Fair Fortune_ with her mom too, but she thought she wouldn’t mind going to see it now if she got to witness Juliana’s eyes light up in wonder at the spectacle.

Juliana looked up at her. “Sure,” she said with a smile and slight shrug of her shoulders.

“Yeah?” Valentina said softly, returning Juliana’s smile. “Great! They’re probably not selling tickets yet, but—”

“ _We’ve_ actually started selling early-bird tickets,” Alanna jumped in, pulling a ream of the said items out of her pocket. “Would you like to buy them now? They’re a lot cheaper than if you buy them later.”

Everyone gaped at her quietly until Grace spoke up. “It’s scary how you’re always prepared _all the time._ ”

Further discussions on the tickets were brought short when Sergio joined them and Sierra hinted that they needed to start heading out to the party. Valentina found herself wishing to stay and continue chatting with Juliana, but, as her friends pointed out, she should be celebrating Ilvermorny’s first win of the season with her team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Tale of the Three Brothers_ \- that story about the three brothers with the Elder Wand (most powerful wand), Resurrection Stone (brings loved ones back from death, but they are only a 'shadow' of themselves), and Invisibility Cloak (yes, that Invisibility Cloak)
> 
> I will elaborate more on the _Fountain of Fair Fortune_ later.


	6. 3-3 - Party Pooper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGs:
> 
> \- This chapter has underage drinking (as listed on the tags)
> 
> \- This is where that "suggestion of violence" I was talking about comes in. Now that I'm re-reading it, Valentina does get a little hurt physically. Let's just say that she has to deal with Lucho. (I'm sorry!)
> 
> \- Maybe some angst? Well, Val's not happy.

The spiked punch Valentina had been drinking was making her feel pleasantly floaty but almost uncomfortably warm. Wanting to take a breather, Valentina stepped away from where she had been dancing — well, bouncing to the loud music — with her friends to get herself a glass of water.

She wasn’t supposed to be drinking any alcohol. James, Quidditch Captain and official party-pooper, had been pretty adamant on restricting anyone in the fourth year and below to butterbeer and non-alcoholic punch. He’d even asked the older members of the team to limit their alcohol intake. He’d left the party early, however, and as soon as he had gone, Lucho and Jonathan had spiked the punch with Firewhiskey while their other teammates pretended not to see anything.

That had been almost two hours ago. Now, all of the seventh year members of the team had left, as had Gwen, Maddie, and Tash. Guille, who had arrived at the party before Valentina, had also left, though not before asking her if she’d wanted to leave with him. However, Lucho, Nayeli, and Sergio had insisted that she stay, reasoning that they never hung out as a group anymore. It wasn’t entirely her fault that their little group were no longer as close as they had been during their first and second years, but Valentina still felt a little guilty about it so she had agreed to stay. Sierra and their two other roommates had also decided to stay, as well as dozens of other students, so the party was still very much alive.

Having procured herself a glass of water, Valentina leaned against a nearby wall and looked around. The party was in a large, unused dungeon room with an imposing square post in the middle. Lights floated above everyone’s heads, bathing the room in a dark green-and-purple glow. Among the people on the dance floor, Valentina could see Sierra dancing with an older boy, Lucho and Nayeli dancing together, and Sergio breaking off from them to try and dance with an older girl. Predictably, and to Valentina’s amusement, the girl waved him away, so he went back to the other two, bumping against Lucho in the process. That was when Lucho seemed to have noticed that Valentina wasn’t with them. He looked around, caught sight of her, and broke away from Sergio and Nayeli.

Lucho didn’t approach Valentina, at least not right away. Instead, he went to the drinks table, fetched two cups of the spiked punch, then made a beeline for her. Valentina sighed tiredly.

“Drink?” Lucho offered as he leaned on the wall next to her, standing too close for her liking.

Valentina shook her head. “I’m done, Lucho,” she said. It was the first time she’d really tried hard liquor, and even though it was diluted with juice, she’d already had several cups of the spiked drink. She liked the floaty way it made her feel, but not how it made her unsteady on her feet or how it made things look blurry. And she was sweating under her shirt and jacket.

“Come on, Valentina,” Lucho insisted. “You can’t stop now. This is the first time all four of us have gotten together since the summer.”

“We don’t need to drink for that.”

“Yes we do! You never do anything fun with us anymore, you missed it when we all got _wasted_ —” Lucho sounded proud about it, “—in that party last year.”

He was talking about a Christmas party in the dungeons organised by a group of older students, one of whom was his brother. The party was unsanctioned by any club, and open to all students. Valentina hadn’t gone to the party because it hadn’t sounded appealing. Besides, that had been held on the last day before winter break, and Valentina had wanted to hang out with Juliana, and only Juliana, since they would both be going to their separate homes over the break.

Valentina sighed and rolled her eyes. Lucho had never learned how to take ‘no’ for an answer, and arguing with him would be a bigger headache than simply drinking the punch. So she took the drink from Lucho’s hands, told him that it would be her last, and downed it in three large gulps.

The room seemed to spin around her as she brought her head back down, handing her cup to Lucho. She had to blink several times in order to get it to settle down.

“Valentina,” Lucho’s voice sounded distant. “Can we talk for a moment?”

Valentina turned and squinted at him, trying to focus on his face. His head looked like a fish floating in midair. “We’re talking right now.”

“In private,” he said. “Please,” he added when Valentina narrowed her eyes skeptically at him.

Valentina rolled her eyes and muttered her agreement. Lucho reached for her elbow and led her by the arm out of the room. There were three pairs of older students making out in the corridor. Valentina kept her head down as Lucho walked them past the overly-amorous couples.

Valentina pulled her arm away from Lucho as they reached the far end of the hallway. “What do you want, Lucho?” she asked, annoyed.

The sudden motion made her dizzy, and she took a few steps back until she bumped against the cold dungeon wall. The couples making out several feet away from them and the music from the party spilling out through the open door didn’t exactly scream “private” but Valentina didn’t care.

Lucho didn’t seem to mind it too much either. He gave her a constipated look, and then, “I… I really like you, Vale.”

It took several seconds for Lucho’s words to register, not because it was surprising, but because words and sounds seem to float to Valentina’s ears slowly. “Oh,” was the only thing she could say.

Lucho didn’t seem all that interested in what she had to say. He continued talking. “You’re not like other girls. You like Quidditch and that’s really cool. A lot of other girls fancy me, but they’re so annoying, they’re always talking about… about girly things. You don’t, and I think you’re still the hottest girl in school. We’d be really hot together.”

Valentina squinted at him, trying to process his words.

Undeterred by her silence, Lucho asked, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

Valentina’s brows furrowed. She remembered thinking just a few hours ago that she’d have a better answer as to whether she liked a boy if that boy told her outright that he liked her. Now that Lucho was doing exactly that, well, she knew what her answer was. “No.”

Lucho gaped at her, his mouth opening and closing several times without a sound. He looked like a fish out of water. “What? What do you mean, ‘no’?”

Valentina was pretty sure that she was, for the first time in her life, legitimately drunk. Still, she was quite certain of her answer, even if she had to concentrate to say the words. “I mean, I don’t want to be your girlfriend.”

“But…” Lucho trailed off, his expression crumpling in confusion.

Valentina took pity on him. “Lo siento güey,” she said. “I just… I just don’t like you like that.”

They stood facing each other without talking for what felt like hours, not quite in silence because of the loud music from the party and the couples making out at the other end of the hallway. Unable to handle the awkwardness any longer, Valentina stepped to the side and turned away from Lucho, thinking that he would want to process the rejection by himself.

She had only taken two steps when she felt Lucho grabbing her wrist and pulling her back towards him. He leaned forward as though to try and kiss her, wearing an almost manic glint in his eyes. Frightened and reacting on instinct, Valentina twisted her hand from his grip and took a few steps back. The force and speed of her own movement sent Valentina falling backwards, and she let out a grunt of pain as her butt hit the ground.

Lucho’s odd expression lifted away. “Shit, are you okay—?”

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing man?” a shout rang out through the corridor.

It was Charles. He strode quickly towards them, pulling out his wand, and, with little warning, aimed a jinx at Lucho. Valentina could only watch from her position on the floor, dazed, as the two boys duelled and spells sailed across the hallway.

Eventually, after a confusion of noise and bright lights, Valentina found herself being helped to her feet by Sierra. A short distance away, Lucho and Charles were glaring at each other, held back by Jonathan and Trevor. Lucho looked unharmed, but Charles sported a gash on his forehead and he had the distinct look of someone who had been Stupefied then Ennervated. Sergio and Nayeli hovered nearby, looking concernedly between Lucho and Valentina. Other students had gathered around them in a small crowd.

“What the hell happened?” Trevor demanded. “Why are you two fighting?”

“He was attacking Valentina,” Charles said, nodding accusatorily at Lucho.

“No, I wasn’t!” Lucho defended. “I was only— I only wanted— I didn’t attack her, alright!”

“Valentina?” Trevor prompted.

Valentina locked eyes with Lucho for a moment. “No, he didn’t attack me,” she said. It was true, she told herself. He hadn’t pushed her down to the ground.

“Vale—” he started, but stopped at Valentina’s stony expression.

Valentina turned away from him only to see everyone’s eyes flitting back and forth from her to Charles and Lucho, who were still glaring at each other. Some of them were wearing knowing expressions. Her face burned in embarrassment.

“I’m going back to the common room,” she said flatly, feeling decidedly sober, as though the last few minutes’ confrontation scared the alcohol out of her system.

Without waiting for a response, she turned away from her teammates and pushed past the crowd of students. She kept her head down, taking care not to meet any curious eyes. A mixture of anger and shame welled up her throat, and it was all she could do not to start crying with everyone staring at her.

There was no way that kind of altercation would not reach the prefects’ and professors’ ears. Eva, who was both the Head Girl and editor-in-chief of the school paper, would most definitely hear about it, and she would no doubt report to their dad. She hated disappointing her dad. To think that Valentina had done so well in not getting into that kind of trouble since she and her friends had snuck out of school in her second year. She wished she’d left with her brother, then she wouldn’t have been drawn into that whole mess.

Valentina was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t immediately notice Sierra and their two other roommates walking with her. She looked around to confirm what she’d suspected: neither Sergio nor Nayeli were with them, which meant they were with Lucho. She tamped down the resentment that suddenly bubbled up within her and tried to give a grateful smile to her roommates instead.

It was close to midnight by the time Valentina and her roommates arrived at the common room. The place was almost empty save for a few sixth and seventh years studying for their CATs. Valentina looked around for her brother, Mateo, or Stephanie, who was also in Pukwudgie, not knowing if she wanted to see any of them, but instead she found Juliana, whose eyes were already on her. Juliana was sitting by herself on a sofa by the window, an open book on the coffee table in front of her.

For the first time in what felt like days, Valentina’s mood lifted. She had thought that Juliana would have gone to bed by then, but she was glad for being wrong. She took quick strides towards her best friend and dove for a hug. Juliana wrapped her arms around her, and Valentina felt the tension on her shoulders begin to dissipate. She burrowed her head into the crook between Juliana’s neck and shoulder, wanting nothing more than to forget the past few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :( :( :( :( :( :( :(


	7. 4 - Growing Pains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is when Val gets together with _some boy_. Ugh.

Word of Charles and Lucho’s dungeon hallway duel spread like wildfire around the school. People enthusiastically speculated about the reason for it. There was gossip that they’d been fighting over the Seeker position, but the most popular rumour was that they’d been fighting over Valentina’s affections.

Valentina was no stranger to stares from other students, but now they tittered and giggled when she passed by them in hallways. Some of her classmates dreamily pronounced that being fought over by two of the most popular boys in school was very romantic, while others seemed to find it incredibly hilarious, entertaining themselves by teasing Valentina about it. She couldn’t decide which annoyed her more.

Unavoidably, Eva found out about what had happened. Contrary to what Valentina had dreaded, she didn’t accuse her of deliberately getting into or causing trouble. However, she did give some unsolicited advice.

“It’s not your fault that boys are idiots, Vale,” Eva said. “You’re beautiful and popular and rich. Boys will continue to be idiots about you until you get a boyfriend, someone who can match your popularity, someone who can match the prestige of our family name. I mean… it wasn’t exactly like this for me, but some idiots wouldn’t stop asking me out until I started dating Mateo.” Eva paused before continuing, her words measured, “Charles shouldn’t have started jinxing Lucho right away, but keep in mind that he thought he was protecting you. He’s a good kid, you know. His family isn’t wealthy, but his parents are renowned in magizoology circles worldwide. That’s not a bad connection to make.”

Most of the student body seemed to be in agreement with Eva about who would be a better boyfriend for Valentina. At least that was what she’d gathered from what Nayeli, Sierra, and some of her roommates were saying, though none of them dared to be as direct as her sister.

Valentina did her best to ignore all of them.

Juliana, who had learned about what had happened directly from Valentina, seemed as irritated about the way the whole school had fixated on the duel as Valentina was. Her nose would wrinkle in distaste whenever someone brought it up, and she would try to change the topic. Despite Valentina’s annoyance about the whole situation, she couldn’t help but smile at Juliana’s adorable reaction.

The one person who was thunderously furious about the whole thing was James. He asked Charles and Lucho’s Heads of House to make them serve a month of detention instead of the two weeks they’d been given. After that, he called a team meeting and lectured the two boys—and everyone else—about proper conduct befitting athletes and Quidditch players. Finally, he made the two of them apologise to Valentina as well as to each other, muttering something about respecting girls and teammates.

Charles seemed genuinely remorseful about the whole incident. In fact, he’d apologised to Valentina the very morning after his and Lucho’s stupid fight, acknowledging that he’d made things worse by starting a duel. She had been mad at him for the unwanted attention the duel had caused, but she could see that he was truly sorry. Even if he wasn’t, he was already going to be serving weeks of detention and was being mocked by some people for losing a duel to someone in the year below him. Valentina decided that those things were punishment enough. Besides, they were teammates and she didn’t want to have any bad blood between them.

Lucho, on the other hand, seemed less concerned about bad blood among teammates. His apology to Valentina was riddled with excuses and he refused to apologise to Charles, reasoning that the other boy had started the fight. He didn’t seem to find anything wrong with the fact he had continued hexing Charles even after he’d hit the latter with a Stunner.

The two boys had never been the best of friends, but they had at least become civil after months of practising together. Now they didn’t even speak a word to each other, which wasn’t ideal because Charles and Lucho had to train closely as Seeker and Reserve Seeker. Worse, it affected team morale.

The unpleasantness went on for a couple of weeks until James called the two boys back after one practice session for a ‘talk’. Valentina didn’t know what was exactly said among the three of them, but the next day James called a team meeting with Lucho being conspicuously absent. It was explained when James announced that Lucho had decided to leave the team.

James asked to talk with Valentina afterwards. She irrationally thought that she would have to leave the team as well, but that was not the case.

“Listen, Valentina,” James started as they walked along the line of trees that served as boundaries for the makeshift Quidditch pitch. “I want to apologise about Charles and Lucho’s actions.”

Valentina frowned. “It wasn’t your fault. And if you want to apologise because they’re in the Quidditch team, well, they’re my teammates too.”

“No, you’re right. It’s just… the unfathomable _idiocy_ of—” James stopped himself, taking a steadying breath. “You know what, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” He glanced at Valentina before continuing. “I’m really glad that Steph and Gwen threatened to curse me when I refused to let you try out at the beginning of the year. I don’t know why you backed out on your first year, but I think you’ve really shown commitment to the team this time.

“What I’m trying to say is… we are now short a Reserve Seeker, which is a very important position. I think that you are the best person for it.”

Valentina abruptly stopped walking to look up at James, prompting him to stop as well.

He continued talking, his even voice a contrast to Valentina’s mounting interest. “You’d still get to keep your Chaser position, but since you’re not playing in actual games, you can do double duty as Reserve Seeker. But,” he looked Valentina in the eye, “I’m also aware that it was Charles who started the duel that caused all this… mess. I would understand if you don’t want to train closely with him. I can ask Jonathan, or—”

“No, I can do it,” Valentina said quickly.

“I— are you sure?”

“Yes. Charles and I are good, he already apologised to me, we’re good.”

That was a lie. Their interactions had been awkward. The rumours assigned feelings he might or might not have for Valentina, but he didn’t seem particularly inclined to admit to or deny them.

“I’m one of the best flyers on the team,” Valentina continued. “You can’t give the Reserve Seeker position to someone else.”

James let out a small smile. “Then it’s yours.”

⁂

Valentina’s training routine with the Quidditch Team changed after she accepted the Reserve Seeker position on top of being a substitute Chaser. On alternating days, she would train closely with either Charles or the Chasers.

Now that she had one-on-one sessions with Charles, Valentina had to admit that he was pretty cool, and, like Juliana, funny in a quiet kind of way. He knew a lot about magical creatures; Valentina liked talking to him about winged horses and dragons, though she found that he could be a bit of a know-it-all sometimes. His knowledge about Quidditch Teams was almost encyclopedic; oddly enough, Juliana seemed to appreciate it. Juliana was more interested in the uniforms and logos of Quidditch teams than in the actual game itself, and Charles was always able to describe those to her in great detail on the few times when he joined them for dinner.

Lucho, on the other hand, never failed to annoy both Valentina and Juliana. He had been pretty subdued after the night of his duel with Charles, but a few days after he left the Quidditch Team, he started openly pursuing Valentina even though she’d already told him that she didn’t want to be his girlfriend. He sent her flowers and chocolates almost daily. Sometimes, he would accost her in the hallways between classes, loudly telling her that he would be a great boyfriend, to the amusement of her classmates. He only stopped when Eva found out about what he’d been doing and she threatened to dock points from his House and give him detention for the rest of the year.

Valentina normally hated it when Eva meddled in her life, but she was thankful for that.

She was less thankful about Eva telling her about how good a ‘prospect’ Charles was. The thing was, while Valentina was almost certain that Charles fancied her, he had never really openly said anything to her about it. If he had asked her out maybe she would have said yes, just to get everyone to shut up about him and the other boys who apparently fancied her too, but all he did was walk her to and from classes and sometimes ask to join her and Juliana for dinner after Quidditch practice.

⁂

It was almost halfway through spring when Charles finally said something to Valentina.

They were just wrapping up a mid-week training session for a game that would decide whether they would get into the playoff finals or not. Valentina had volunteered to stay behind with Charles so he could get more practice catching the Snitch while going against an opponent. After the practice, she had given some encouraging words about the upcoming game. That was when he blurted out, in stops and starts, that he liked her, asking if she wanted to go on a date with him. Valentina appreciated the polite way he asked her, so different from Lucho, and she couldn’t think of a reason to say no, so she agreed to the date—as long as they focused on the game first, of course.

With a very important match only a few days away, practice was held at the nearby Fitchburg Stadium instead of the makeshift pitch in Ilvermorny’s school grounds. When Valentina and Charles arrived by Floo at Ilvermorny’s Entrance Hall, she waved goodbye to him and headed directly for the Pukwudgie common room.

Valentina looked around for Juliana as soon as she entered the common room. Her best friend was sitting at one of the round tables by the windows, clearly doing her homework. Valentina went up to Juliana and plopped herself on the seat across from her.

Juliana looked up from her homework, her startled expression turning into a smile when she saw who had interrupted her. “Oh, hola Val.”

“Hey,” Valentina replied with a smile. “Is that Potions?” she asked, reading the vaguely familiar text on Juliana’s parchment. “I’m so behind on all my homework,” she lamented, letting her head drop dramatically on the table.

She was overcome with a sudden feeling of regret for deciding to stay back to help Charles, and for joining the Quidditch Team in the first place. She could only guess that it was because long practices meant it was harder for her to get on top of her schoolwork. She had no idea why she was feeling that way; she had always run behind on schoolwork and was used to doing everything at the last minute.

Valentina was drawn from her self-pity by the feeling of a quill’s feather scratching her ear. She turned her head to catch Juliana pulling her hand back, the offending quill held between her fingers. Valentina shot her a narrow-eyed glare, but Juliana only giggled in response. Despite herself, Valentina’s lips turned up into a smile. Feeling a little better, she sat up, joining in on Juliana’s soft laughter.

“How was practice?” Juliana asked when they’d stopped laughing. She often watched Quidditch practices if she could, but she couldn’t come to the ones held outside of school grounds. “Did you have dinner yet?”

Valentina nodded, appreciating Juliana’s concern. “I had dinner with the team at the stadium,” she replied. “Practice was okay,” she said, shrugging, though her stomach turned uncomfortably. “Everyone’s a little nervous because we’ll be going up against Salem Witches and they’re the league leaders. I had to stay behind to help Charles practice because he wasn’t feeling too confident.”

Valentina paused for a moment, looking down at her hands as she fidgeted with her bracelet. “He— he asked me out on a date,” she said abruptly. “And I said yes,” she added, looking up at Juliana.

“Oh,” said Juliana. There was several moments’ pause as she twiddled the quill in her hands, then she gave a small smile. “That’s— that’s cool, Val.”

“Yeah?” said Valentina, searching her best friend’s face. Juliana looked almost impassive. Valentina suddenly felt the need to explain herself. “It’s just that… everyone wants me to date him— well, not everyone, but Eva does… and Nayeli. And my roommates like him. He’s better than Lucho, at least,” she added, rolling her eyes at the thought of the other boy. “I thought— I thought I’d give him a chance.”

Juliana nodded at the explanation, giving Valentina a tight-lipped smile.

Feeling uncertain, Valentina had to ask, “Do you— do you like him? I mean, do you think I should go on a date with him?”

“Val,” Juliana let out in a forced-sounding chuckle. “Why are you asking me that? That’s up to you.”

Valentina gazed down at the table between them, nervously wringing her hands. “You’re the only one who hasn't given your opinion on it.”

“I— well, he’s okay,” Juliana finally said. “He _is_ better than Lucho.”

Valentina looked up to see Juliana giving her a wry smile. They gazed at each other for a moment before looking away at the same time. Valentina stared at Juliana’s hand as she dipped her quill into the ink bottle, then proceeded to make a blot on her parchment for no apparent reason. After a few minutes, in which it became clear that Juliana had nothing more to say, Valentina broke the silence.

“Okay.”

Juliana shot her another tight-lipped smile. “Okay.”

⁂

The game was lost.

The team fought admirably, but they were no match for Salem Witches’ Institute, whose all-girl squad consisted of at least three members who were already being scouted by professional clubs. They had one more match to play in the regular season, but it would not change their standing in the league table. The one against Salem was their make or break game and, unfortunately, they weren’t able to make it.

After the game, James gathered everyone in the locker room for a post-match talk. He said that the team gave it their all, which was what mattered, and that they would do better next year.

It wasn’t their time yet.

⁂

Valentina went out on a date with Charles the following day.

It was one of Ilvermorny’s scheduled open-gate weekends, which meant anyone in the third year and above were allowed to leave school. Valentina and Charles went to a hidden magical square in nearby Salem, heading out a couple of hours after lunchtime. Valentina had been there before with some of her classmates so it was not a new experience.

That day, Valentina and Charles browsed the shops they liked **—** Quartermaine’s Quidditch Equipments being the most important—then went to get coffee and cake at a popular but busy cafe. The highlight of the afternoon was when the Salem Witches’ Seeker entered the cafe with a few of her friends, settling themselves a few tables from Valentina and Charles. Even though Salem Witches prevented them from going to the playoffs, they couldn’t help but admire all their players. Valentina particularly liked Salem’s Seeker, who was so good it was rumoured that professional clubs were scouting her even at fifteen. She and Charles agreed that the Seeker was also very pretty, although of course that had nothing to do with her Quidditch abilities. The two of them spent almost half an hour debating on whether they should go up to talk to the Seeker, stealing glances in her direction the whole time. In the end, neither of them did anything.

Before returning to school, Valentina had them drop by the snack shop to buy some sweets as well as a few bags of Chili Almonds, Juliana’s favourite. Since first- and second-years couldn’t leave school on open-gate weekends, and Juliana always insisted that Valentina didn’t have to stay with her, Valentina had always made sure to get her something whenever she was out. Thankfully, Juliana no longer minded if Valentina got her little things, like colour-changing stationeries or her favourite snacks.

It was dusk by the time Charles and Valentina got back to school. He walked her up to the corridor by the entrance of the Pukwudgie common room. There, after looking left and right to ensure that no one else was around, Charles made to kiss her. Valentina allowed it to happen. It was a quick peck on the lips, and he smiled shyly at her when he pulled back. Valentina smiled back, thinking that now, at least, she could say that she had kissed a boy. She was glad that the boy was Charles; she wondered if that meant that she did like him.

Valentina said goodbye to Charles and went into the common room. She looked for Juliana but her best friend wasn’t around, so she went up to her dorm room. A few of her classmates, including Sierra, were hanging out in the dorm. They interrogated Valentina about her date with Charles as soon as she entered. They squealed when she told them about the kiss and asked Valentina if he was now her boyfriend. Valentina humoured their teasing with a smile and shrugged in response to their question. Charles hadn’t asked anything in the way of that.

After talking to her classmates, Valentina went to look for Juliana. She found her in the courtyard near the Pukwudgie dormitories, sitting on the bench at what Valentina had come to consider as their spot. Juliana seemed to be practising a spell on a piece of cloth, her brows furrowed in concentration, but she looked up as Valentina approached, putting both cloth and wand in her pocket.

“Hi,” Valentina greeted. She put the bag of snacks she’d bought on the table in front of the bench and straightened the skirt of her dress as she sat next to her best friend.

“Hey, Val,” Juliana said, looking sideways at her. There was a moment’s pause before she cleared her throat and asked, “How’d your date with Charles go?”

Valentina shrugged. “It was okay,” she said, resting her arms on the table.

Aside from the friendship bracelet, she was also wearing the Golden Snitch-patterned bracelet Juliana had given her; she twisted both around her wrist in a nervous motion. She took a deep breath, looking up at the tree that partly blocked them from the rest of the courtyard.

“He, uh…” Valentina stumbled over what she was going to say. She had no idea why it was hard to talk to Juliana about it. They were best friends, they should be able to talk about these kinds of things. “He kissed me,” she blurted out, her face heating up.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Juliana glancing at her.

“Did you—” Juliana began, “I mean… how was it?” There was curiosity in her voice, as well as something else Valentina couldn’t identify.

Valentina shrugged again. “It was… nice.” It was her first kiss. She didn’t have anything to compare it against. “It was nice,” she repeated firmly, putting on a smile. “I mean,” she continued talking, though she had no idea what to say, “you know how it is…” she trailed off uncertainly as she glanced at Juliana.

Juliana gave her a bemused smile. “No,” she said wryly.

Valentina chuckled nervously. “Oh, right… no,” she said, thinking that Juliana would tell her if she had kissed a boy. Her stomach churned uncomfortably. The tree leaves dancing with the slight breeze were suddenly very fascinating.

“Te gusta, Val?”

Did she like him?

It was the first time anyone had asked Valentina that question outright. Her classmates teased her about him more than they did the other boys, and Eva had told her that Charles would be a good choice for a boyfriend, but no one had asked her how she really felt. She took a moment to think about her answer.

“I… I guess?” she said, glancing at Juliana before turning away again. “He’s a good Quidditch player, and he doesn’t mind when I beat him to the Snitch when we practice. And, well… he’s nice.”

There was a moment’s pause before Juliana replied. “He _is_ nice.”

“Yeah,” Valentina said, smiling as she finally looked at Juliana.

Juliana met her gaze and smiled back.

Valentina told herself that that settled it. She did like Charles.

⁂

A few days later, during a Quidditch practice session at Fitchburg Stadium, James announced that Valentina and Jonathan would be playing in the last game of the regular season. The loss against Salem Witches had already knocked them out of the running for the final playoffs, so James wanted to give the younger Chasers a chance to play in an actual game since Stephanie and Diana would be graduating that year. The last match would still influence the schedules for the next season, so it wasn’t a throwaway game.

Valentina and Jonathan high-fived in celebration while all of their teammates congratulated them.

That day, Valentina focused on Chaser practice again. Since it was a new configuration, she and her fellow Chasers decided to have an extended training session.

After practice, Valentina found that Charles was waiting for her. The other Chasers, who seemed to have realised that something was going on, teased the two of them all the way back to Ilvermorny. When they arrived at the Entrance Hall, Charles pulled her aside to an empty hallway, where he asked her to be his girlfriend. On a high, and not really seeing any reason to refuse, Valentina said yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. I am sorry. I am apologising mostly to myself, for subjecting myself to this hetero-nonsense. And if the parts where Val and Charles interact seem perfunctory, that's because it is. I am too gay to make an effort in writing hetero scenes.
> 
> The "Salem Witches" here is _not_ a reference to the TV show "Motherland: Fort Salem". Salem Witches Institute is a canon school in the HP world. If my memory serves right, it was first mentioned in Goblet of Fire, during that time when they went to see the Quidditch World Cup Final.
> 
> "Quartermaine's Quidditch Equipments" _is_ a reference to a character in "Motherland" though. ;)


	8. 5-1 - The Game

Fourteen players hovered in the air in the middle of the Quidditch pitch as they waited for the whistle to start the game. Valentina took one of the wing positions, with Trevor to her left and Jonathan on his other side. Gwen and Landon were behind them, both Beaters’ bats at the ready. James was sitting the match out with the other seventh-years, and the Captain’s badge had gone to Gwen, who gave Valentina a wide grin when she turned to look at them. Way at the back, Maddie was already positioned in front of the goalposts, sitting on their broom with their usual calm demeanour. Charles was at the head of the formation, hovering a few feet away from the opposing team’s Seeker. He looked around and shot an encouraging smile at Valentina, who returned it with a tight-lipped one.

Valentina was feeling a little nervous. Maybe more than a little. Earlier at lunch, she almost hadn’t touched her food for fear of throwing up had it not been for Juliana, who had seemed like she would have spoonfed her had Valentina not started eating.

Juliana was at the stands now. She and Guille were sitting together, as they had during the first few games of the season. Sierra, Sergio, and most of Valentina’s classmates were with them, as were a few of Juliana’s classmates. Eva couldn’t come, but Valentina understood because she was studying for her CATs.

Valentina squinted against the sun to get a good look at Juliana and the others.

The group was waving around three different banners for Valentina, all of which were made by Juliana. The one Juliana was carrying had a drawing of Valentina on it, flying and scoring goals, while the words “Vamos Valentina!” glittered at the top. It was big enough that Juliana needed her classmate Grace’s help to wave it around. Juliana was also wearing face paint: two V’s on either cheek, in Ilvermorny’s red and blue colours. Valentina couldn’t make it out from the middle of the pitch, but Juliana had looked extremely cute when Valentina saw her up-close earlier. Of course, in typical Juliana fashion, she’d jokingly said that the V’s were for ‘Valdés’ and not ‘Valentina’. The good-natured teasing had made Valentina less nervous about her first-ever competitive match.

Valentina’s stomach fluttered pleasantly at the thought of her best friend’s unequivocal support. Taking a few more seconds to gaze at Juliana in the stands—and Guille and her other friends, of course—Valentina inhaled deeply before facing forwards again, looking at their opponents.

They were going up against the Stonewall Squalls, a youth team fielded by the professional club Stonewall Stormers. Like Ilvermorny, the Squalls were already out of the running for the final playoffs, but both teams still needed to win in order to be better positioned for the next season. The Squalls’ players had the added incentive of being promoted to the Stormers if they performed exceptionally well, so Ilvemorny would need to match them and give their best.

The referee blew on her whistle and, as the high-pitched sound rang out around the stadium, she tossed the Quaffle in the air.

As planned, Valentina, on her top-of-the-line broom, went for the Quaffle while Charles, the Beaters, and the other two Chasers formed a wall to prevent the opposing team’s Chasers from beating her to it. Valentina quickly caught the Quaffle, snatching it out of the air before it could reach its maximum height. That done, Charles sped off towards a more elevated position while Gwen and Landon went after the Bludgers. With the Quaffle securely in her grip, Valentina flew towards the opposing team’s goalposts, Trevor and Jonathan in her wings.

Two Bludgers flew towards Valentina in quick succession; she ducked the first one while Gwen hit the second one away from her. One of the opposing team’s Beaters tried to body check her; she dropped several feet below even as she passed the Quaffle to Trevor. Knowing that Trevor and Jonathan could manage by themselves with the help of the Beaters, Valentina flew ahead of them, stopping just short of the scoring area. Trevor and Jonathan soon caught after her; the former was speeding towards the goalposts with Quaffle in hand while the latter flew just below. Just before he reached the scoring area, Trevor dropped the Quaffle to Jonathan and looped around. The opposing Keeper flew towards Jonathan, but Jonathan passed the Quaffle to Valentina without entering the scoring area. Valentina flew into the scoring area with Quaffle in hand, ducking a Bludger that was sent her way. The opposing Keeper, caught out of position, could only watch as Valentina easily shot the Quaffle through the right-most goalpost, earning cheers from Ilvermorny’s side of the stadium. 

Valentina shot a quick glance towards where Juliana—and the others—were seated before focusing back on the game.

The next hour and a half passed in the same manner. Valentina and her fellow Chasers scored quick goals, taking full advantage of the fact that Valentina “flew like a Seeker,” according to Stephanie, who had thought up the Chasers’ strategy for the game. Gwen and Landon, both of whom didn’t have the typical Beater’s build, played an offensive game. Instead of Beating the Bludgers away from their teammates, they focused on hitting it towards opposing team members, trusting Valentina and the others to be able to take care of themselves. That strategy, coupled with Maddie’s unflappable presence in front of the goalposts, meant that the Squalls scored only a single goal to Ilvermorny’s two or three.

Valentina and her teammates couldn’t be complacent though. Catching the Golden Snitch gave the Seeker’s team one hundred and fifty points, and the Squalls’ Seeker was their best player, even one of the best in the league. Valentina and her fellow Chasers would need to score fifteen goals more than their opposite numbers to neutralise their advantage.

They were only thirteen goals ahead when Charles and the Squalls’ Seeker started racing in the same direction. A second later, Maddie yelled out, “it’s not a feint!”

As previously agreed, Valentina split away from her fellow Chasers and, along with Gwen and Landon, went after Charles and the other Seeker. The plan was for Gwen and Landon to hit the Bludgers towards the opposing Seeker while Valentina ran interference, distracting the Seeker as well as she could without going so far as to commit a foul.

It worked. The opposing team’s Seeker fell farther and farther behind Charles, and then—

Still playing interference, Valentina heard the crowd roar before she saw what happened—

Charles caught the Snitch!

Valentina and the rest of their teammates flew towards him. Gwen and Landon reached him first, then Valentina, then Trevor and Jonathan, then finally Maddie. With the crowd chanting an Ilvermorny cheer song, all seven of them, hugging awkwardly despite being on separate brooms, slowly drifted downwards. They were accosted by their other teammates the moment they reached the ground, with Diana and even soft-spoken Stephanie yelling in Valentina’s ears.

After being crushed in a three-way hug between Gwen and Maddie, Valentina found herself face to face with Charles. He grinned widely at her.

“Val, you did amazing!” he exclaimed. “Congratulations on your first game.”

Valentina could not contain her smile. The win was exhilarating, and she was still pumped-up from their fast-paced game. “Thank you! You did great catching the Snitch too!”

Charles shook his head. “I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help, without _your_ help,” he added. He gave her a significant look, then made to kiss her.

Valentina stepped back, her smile fading. They’d kissed a few more times after they’d officially become an item, and they’d even gone on one more date, but, “Not here.” She looked pointedly around the crowded stadium; she’d already told him that she didn’t like public displays of affection.

Charles' smile fell for a moment, but he rallied quickly. “Oh, right,” he said jovially. “Well, hug?”

A celebratory hug, Valentina could do. She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly in her excitement over their win.

When they separated, Valentina shot Charles a smile before looking towards the stands in the direction of where Juliana and the others were seated. Juliana was jumping up and down on her seat; the banner she was holding fluttered along with her motion. The others with her were celebrating in a similar manner. Valentina wanted to join them, but she settled for waving exuberantly in their direction, letting them know that she had seen them.

Valentina turned back to her teammates to see James smiling at her. “Go on,” he said, nodding towards Juliana and their friends. “Go up to them.”

Not needing to be told twice, Valentina jumped on her broom and flew up towards her friends. She was halfway out of the pitch when Jonathan zoomed past her, shouting, “look alive, Carvajal!” Narrowing her eyes, she increased her speed, successfully beating him to the stands, though she almost crashed into the row of seats in front of Juliana and the others.

“Ay, ten cuidado, Vale!” Guille exclaimed.

Ignoring her brother’s words, Valentina dismounted from her broom and jumped towards Juliana, engulfing her in a tight hug and accidentally knocking away the banner in Juliana’s hands in the process. She felt Guille gathering the two of them in a bear hug, then Sierra and Sergio joined in.

The group hug broke up after several seconds, but Guille kept his hands on Valentina’s shoulders. “Estoy tan orgulloso de ti, Vale,” he said, his proud smile reflecting his words. “I don’t know if you were keeping track, but you scored the most goals,” he added, still in Spanish. “And Charles wouldn’t have caught that Snitch without your help. You did so well!”

If possible, Valentina’s already huge grin widened at her brother’s words. She gave him another hug and said, “Gracias, hermanito.”

“Okay, I have no idea what you two just said,” Sierra started, “but congratulations Val! I don’t know a lot about Quidditch, but girl, you were on fire!”

Laughing, Valentina stepped away from her brother and turned to her friend. “Thanks, Sierra,” she said in English.

Sergio and Valentina’s other classmates, as well as Juliana’s classmates, chimed in with their congratulations. Valentina thanked all of them before turning to Juliana, who had remained quiet during the round of compliments.

Juliana was holding the banner that Valentina had knocked out again. It was only then that Valentina noticed that the drawing on the banner had changed. The Valentina in the drawing was now doing some kind of victory lap; there were fireworks going off at the top, which formed the words “Valentina la Ganadora” at the end of drawing-Valentina’s lap around the banner. Juliana nodded at something behind Valentina, and she turned around to see Guille and Sergio having picked up their banners, both showing the same congratulatory message as Juliana’s. Valentina turned back to her best friend.

Juliana was grinning widely at her. “Image-switching magic,” she said simply. “Congrats, Val.”

Valentina could barely identify the myriad of emotions that she felt at the sight before her. Her heart seemed to expand in her chest. The only thing she could think of doing was throwing her arms around her best friend and wrapping her in the tightest embrace possible, so she did. She let go, eventually, but not before whispering her thanks in Juliana’s ears.

Juliana’s face seemed a little pink. Valentina felt slightly guilty. She must have hugged Juliana a little too tightly. It was something she compulsively tended to do with Juliana, as Guille had observed a couple of times before.

Clearing her throat, Valentina said, “I have to get back to the team.” She glanced at her brother and her other friends before turning back to Juliana.

“Okay,” Juliana said, nodding and smiling softly, the painted V’s on her cheeks now a little smudged. “We’ll see you later, Val,” she added. Guille and their other friends expressed their agreement.

“Okay,” Valentina echoed Juliana’s words as she finally dropped her hands from Juliana’s shoulders.

Valentina picked up her broom before glancing back at Juliana. And then, letting her emotions dictate her actions, she went up to Juliana again and planted a kiss on her cheek. Juliana’s smile was even softer when Valentina pulled away, but everyone else burst out laughing.

“Your lips are blue now, Vale,” Guille pointed out after a moment.

“Quite a good colour,” Sierra quipped, and they all started laughing again.

That evening, the Quidditch team once again held a party in the dungeons to celebrate their win, as well as to celebrate the season in its entirety. Valentina was declared the MVP of the match; she accepted her teammates’ congratulations with not a little pride.

The best part of the evening was that Juliana had snuck into the party, saying that it wasn’t every day that Valentina won her first-ever competitive match. James pretended not to notice Juliana’s presence, declaring that the Captain’s badge all but officially belonged to Gwen already. Of course, that didn’t stop him from keeping a watchful eye on the drinks to make sure that no one spiked them.

Valentina didn’t mind at all. As long as Juliana was there to celebrate with her, Valentina was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Stonewall Stormers is a canon Quidditch club. I thought it would be cool if they had a youth team called the Stonewall Squalls. (Sometimes naming is fun.)
> 
> A "feint" in Quidditch is when a Seeker speeds off in one direction to make the opposing Seeker think that they saw the Golden Snitch. Executed successfully, the opposing Seeker would chase after you at full speed then crash against something when they can't change direction in time (like the ground, for the specific "Wronski Feint" move).


	9. 5-2 - The Play

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick HP canon note: _The Fountain of Fair Fortune_ is an in-universe children's tale about three women (and one man) who band together to find their way towards a Fountain that's supposed to give only one person everything they want/need. In the end, the three women find what they need throughout their journey. The man gets to be the one to make use of the Fountain's magic, which is just typical, because men have always benefited from women's hard work.

Valentina beamed as she watched Juliana look around the large hall that served as the venue for the Drama Club’s end-of-year play. The place was beginning to crowd with students heading for their seats or milling about the aisles, but Juliana’s attention was on the brightly lit stage, its drawn curtain showing an image of a glittering fountain. Her eyes were bright with excitement and Valentina couldn’t help but mirror the feeling.

_The Fountain of Fair Fortune_ was taken from an old children’s tale but it was always presented as a visually stunning play, known for its amazing costumes. If the Drama Club did their job right… well, Valentina couldn’t wait for Juliana to see all of it.

“Uh, hello, shall we take our seats?”

Juliana tore her eyes away from the stage and Valentina looked away from her as they both turned to the speaker. Sierra, standing by a row of seats a few feet ahead, was giving them a half-incredulous, half-impatient look. Next to her, Nayeli looked a little bored.

“You’re blocking the way,” Sierra pointed out.

“Oh,” Valentina said in surprise, not realising that they had paused in the middle of the aisle, with people having to squeeze past them to get through.

“Sorry,” Juliana said sheepishly.

Sierra good-naturedly waved the apology away. She turned around to lead the way to their seats at the third row from the stage. Juliana and Valentina filed in after her, while Nayeli followed behind them.

When Eva had found out about Valentina intending to see that year’s play, her first reaction had been surprise. Valentina had never expressed interest in the school plays during her first three years at Ilvermorny. The next thing she did was offer Valentina the four seats that were typically reserved for her.

It turned out that Eva donated a large amount of money to the Drama Club every year despite not being a member of the club. Because of that, the Drama Club always reserved good seats for Eva even though she had only attended one of their plays. Eva had privately explained to Valentina that while it was important to “patronise the arts,” the school plays were “not of a quality she was used to.” The Drama Club’s members usually gave away Eva’s seats to their friends, but that year Valentina got to use it along with her friends.

Eva’s four reserved seats meant that Valentina could invite two more people along with her and Juliana. Sierra was an obvious choice; she and Valentina had grown closer that year since they shared all of their classes, including the elective ones, except for Muggle Studies. Valentina knew she could have invited Charles, who had even asked her to see the play with him, but she had told him that she and Juliana had had prior plans and that she’d wanted to make a girls’ night of it. Instead, Valentina had offered the last seat to Nayeli, especially since the two of them hadn’t hung out a lot together in the past year.

As they took their seats, Juliana turned around to wave at Jane and Lina, who were seated a few rows behind them. Settling back on her seat, Juliana noticed Valentina’s eyes on her.

“Qué? Why are you smiling like that?”

“Nothing,” Valentina replied, unable to stop her smile. “I’m just excited.”

“Okay,” Juliana said through a bemused chuckle. “But you’ve already seen this before.”

“It was a long time ago,” Valentina said quietly. Valentina’s mom had still been alive then, and she’d taken the whole family to see the play during a trip to England.

Juliana, who knew that Valentina had seen the play with her mom, must have heard the wistfulness in her voice. She grabbed Valentina’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Thank you for coming to this with me anyway, Val. And for getting us good seats.”

“Of course,” Valentina said sincerely, squeezing back. She’d tended to avoid any story that reminded her of her mom, but now her excitement for Juliana was outshining the sadness she’d always felt when thinking of her mother.

There was still half an hour before the scheduled start of the play. Valentina and Sierra spent part of it giving Juliana some idea of what the story was about until Nayeli steered the conversation to another topic.

“Vale, ya tienes un vestido para tu ceremonia de quinceañera?” said Nayeli, asking if Valentina already had a dress for her fifteenth birthday celebration, which was coming up at the end of the month.

It was an important milestone, marking the day when she could do magic without needing the presence of adults—at least in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

“Yes,” Valentina replied in English, not wanting to be rude to Sierra. “Eva had Guille’s godmother design our dresses last year,” she added, rolling her eyes because Eva and Chivis had started preparing for her birthday celebration so early. The dresses had been finished by the Christmas holidays, so Valentina and Eva were able to try them on when they went home for the break.

“I don’t have a dress yet,” Nayeli replied, switching to English this time. “I won’t be able to get one custom-made. I mean, money’s not an issue,” she clarified hurriedly. “But the ceremony’s in two weeks, so I’ll have to buy one that’s ready-to-wear.”

“That’s okay, Naye,” Valentina said. “Juls is planning to order hers from a catalogue.” Valentina had offered to pay for Juliana’s dress—after all, she only needed it because she was going to Valentina’s birthday celebration—but Juliana had stubbornly refused, reasoning that she would probably be using the dress for other occasions anyway. Valentina, well aware of how touchy Juliana was about money, had not pushed.

“Oh, are you going to Vale’s ceremony too, Juliana?”

There was a note of surprise in Nayeli’s voice, and Valentina thought she knew why. According to tradition, the ceremony must be held within the celebrant’s community, both in terms of location and guests. In Valentina’s case, the ceremony would be taking place in the Carvajal mansion. Nayeli, Sergio, and even Lucho would be there—Valentina couldn’t exclude Lucho without having to explain it to his parents—as well as several of their childhood friends who were studying at Castelobruxo.

Summer vacation was still about a month away from the date of Valentina’s birthday, so they would need official permission to leave school grounds for a day. Since it was a common Mexican tradition, it had been easy to arrange permissions for herself, her siblings, and her old friends. It had been harder to get one for Juliana, but Valentina had managed it with Eva’s help.

The hardest part had been to get Eva to agree to let Valentina invite Juliana in the first place. In the Mexican magical community, the quinceañera celebration was a solemn and intimate ceremony. It wasn’t unheard of to invite someone outside of the community to a quinceañera celebration, but it rarely ever happened. Valentina’s dad had no problems with her plan to have Juliana as a guest, pointing out that Valentina’s mom, who had grown up in Canada, had celebrated her fifteenth birthday the way most Latina witches north of Mexico did—like a fancy party. Guille, as always, was fully supportive of what Valentina wanted. Eva was the one who had argued against it until Valentina pointed out that Juliana’s parents were from Mexico and excluding her from the country’s wizarding community just because her parents were non-magical would be considered anti-Muggle discrimination. Eva had looked like she’d swallowed a lemon when Valentina had made that argument, but she had relented soon after and had even been quite helpful in getting Juliana all the necessary permissions.

“Yeah, I am,” Juliana was replying amiably to Nayeli. Valentina grinned at her.

“Oh, that’s great,” Nayeli said, her voice pitching as though in question.

Valentina’s smile dropped slightly. She hoped Nayeli wouldn’t comment on Juliana being in her quinceañera ceremony. Juliana had no idea that it would not exactly be in line with tradition and Valentina wanted to keep it that way; she didn’t want Juliana to feel unwelcome.

Fortunately, the lights began to dim, signifying the start of the play and effectively preventing further conversation.

Valentina had already seen _The Fountain of Fair Fortune_ presented on stage before, so she spent the majority of it checking for her best friend’s reactions.

It was obvious that the play had caught Juliana’s interest. When the characters were introduced—the three women and one knight in their unique costumes—Juliana’s eyes got so wide and she barely blinked as she gazed up at the stage. Emotions flitted through Juliana’s face as the story progressed. She frowned, and grimaced, and pouted as the characters faced different challenges. She grinned widely and even let out a laugh when the play ended on a happy note, though Valentina could see that she got a little teary-eyed.

When the characters exited the stage after the final scene and before the curtain call, Juliana turned to Valentina, who gave her a lop-sided smile.

“Qué?” Juliana asked, her voice a little hoarse.

“Estabas llorando?” Valentina teased, asking if Juliana had been crying. Her best friend was always the one good-naturedly making fun of her, so she took the chance to turn the tables.

“No!” Juliana denied, though she then made a quick sniffle.

“Hmmm….”

“Vaaal…” Juliana said, dragging the syllable in Valentina’s nickname the way she did when she thought Valentina was teasing her. “Basta, ya!”

“I was just checking!” Valentina said through a chuckle. “You know, like a good friend.”

Instead of verbally responding, Juliana playfully pushed Valentina by her shoulder, shoving her towards Nayeli, who let out a grunt in protest. The two of them let out a “Perdon!” in stereo, but their apologies were belied by their huge grins. Nayeli could do nothing but roll her eyes amiably while Sierra, who could not understand what they were saying, gave them a baffled look. 

Fortunately for their two friends, the curtain call began, requiring them to behave.

They clapped loudly for everyone as the cast and crew were called out, but especially so for the people they knew, including Juliana’s classmate Alanna, who was part of the stage crew.

After, as the lights went on and people started getting up from their seats, Valentina turned to Juliana again.

“What did you think, Juls?” Valentina asked, speaking in English. She knew Juliana liked the play, judging by her reactions, but she still wanted to hear Juliana’s exact thoughts on it.

Juliana smiled at the question. “It was great! I loved the costumes, and how they transformed just like—” she snapped her fingers, “—that. It was amazing, that would have been so hard to achieve without magic. I really liked the props too, I mean that glowing fountain and the plants and flowers, and the _moving_ scenes at the back. It was amazing,” she repeated.

Valentina matched Juliana’s ear-to-ear smile, her insides bubbling pleasantly at the sight of her best friend being so excited.

It was Sierra who replied to Juliana. “I read that _The Fountain of Fair Fortune_ is famous for its production value, and I know the Drama Club went all out on the props and costumes for this one. Last year in _The Tale of the Three Brothers_ they were all only just wearing black cloaks, and the props looked like they could be easily doable by non-magical means. I liked that story better, though. This one’s very obviously a children’s tale.”

“Yeah,” Juliana agreed. “I like it, but yeah, it’s a children’s tale.”

Valentina nudged her side. “Didn’t I see you crying?”

“No,” Juliana denied quickly once again. “I was just… no.”

When Valentina kept on grinning, Juliana crossed her arms and turned away from her.

“Aw, Juls,” Valentina started, reaching for Juliana’s crossed arms with one hand while putting her other arm over Juliana’s shoulder. “I was kidding. Come on, you always tease me, I’m only returning the favour.”

Juliana gave Valentina a deadpan look, but her mouth was twitching upwards.

Valentina continued to grin at her as they began a staring contest, eyes dancing, both trying to get the other to laugh. Valentina crossed her eyes deliberately, making Juliana break out into soft chuckles as she uncrossed her arms and shook her head, effectively losing their silent game.

Arm still around Juliana’s shoulder, Valentina grabbed Juliana’s hand with her free one. “I’m glad you enjoyed the play,” she said quietly, sincerely.

Juliana looked up at Valentina with a smile. “Thanks, Val.”

There was something almost shy in Juliana’s expression. It was so endearing, Valentina just had to squeeze her arm a little tighter around Juliana.

Sierra cleared her throat, calling their attention. She was pointing with her thumb to a couple of students standing on her other side, waiting expectantly to be let through. “Everybody’s starting to leave, we might as well go too.”

They started moving, but Valentina and Juliana only got as far as the aisle when they ran into Jane and Lina.

Indicating the front of the hall where the play’s cast and crew were gathering, Lina enthusiastically informed them that she intended to ask about the costumes. That piqued Juliana’s interest, so both she and Valentina followed Lina and Jane while Sierra and Nayeli opted to go back to their respective dormitories.

Soon enough, Lina had roped a very keen Juliana into a conversation about the play’s costumes with one of the Drama Club members. The latter seemed to be the one who was mainly responsible for the costumes, and she told Juliana and Lina about a design guide for the play. Juliana asked about a subtle change in the characters’ costumes towards the end of the play; the other student expressed excitement that Juliana had noticed it.

Valentina found their discussion interesting but, like Jane, she didn’t share Juliana and Lina’s fascination with the costumes. Jane went off to talk to another group of students, but Valentina settled on one of the front row seats nearby.

Valentina smiled sleepily as she watched Juliana with the others, happy to see the twinkle in her best friend’s eyes as she talked about something she liked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you noticed that the chapter numbers increased from 11 to 12, that's because I split the chapters after this--which I am still editing--into 2. The total word count is the same.
> 
> I realise some of you may be anticipating some pining angst from Juls' part, but that won't happen just yet. At least not in this installment.


	10. 6-1 - The Carvajal Mansion

The trip to the Carvajal home for Valentina’s fifteenth birthday celebration was calm and orderly, but Juliana found herself needing several moments to process everything that went by as she followed her companions from one Floo stop to another.

Juliana was travelling with Valentina herself, as well as Eva, Guille, Nayeli, and another girl from Guille’s year. The six of them had gotten permission to miss their afternoon classes so they would arrive at the Carvajals’ home long before the quinceañera ceremony, which would start at sunset. Valentina, Guille, and Eva needed to be there early as the celebrant and her siblings, but Valentina had also invited Juliana, Nayeli, and Guille’s friend to come along with them so they could dress up and prepare together.

They had taken the Floo from Ilvermorny, switching at two stations, and now they were filing out of a large wardrobe into a small room.

The room was only a little more than half the size of most classrooms in Ilvermorny. One side of it was lined with shelves and cabinets; the other had a long desk, on top of which were strange devices arranged neatly along its length. At the other end of the room was a sturdy-looking door, which was guarded by a sturdier-looking man wearing a dark suit that resembled the uniforms of those old army officers from the movies.

In the middle of the room was another man. He looked to be middle-aged, his dark hair peppered with grey. He was wearing what could pass for a Muggle outfit—dark trousers and a blue button-up shirt—and a welcoming smile that reached his eyes.

Before Juliana could form any conclusions about who he was, Valentina strode quickly towards the man, followed closely by Guille and Eva.

“Papá!” Valentina greeted the man happily, throwing her arms around him.

The man let out a deep rumbling laugh as he returned Valentina’s hug with equal enthusiasm. “Feliz cumpleaños, mi amor,” he said in the most loving tone Juliana had ever heard from a man.

“Gracias, papá,” Valentina replied as they pulled back from the embrace.

Smiling affectionately, Valentina’s dad gave her a kiss on the forehead before turning to her siblings. He exchanged greetings and hugs with Eva and Guille, gave Valentina another hug, then finally turned towards their guests.

Nayeli and Guille’s friend, Mayela, walked closer to the family and politely greeted Valentina’s dad, who returned their greetings and asked about their parents. After that exchange, Valentina’s dad finally turned to Juliana, who remained standing in front of the wardrobe.

Valentina stepped away from the others and went over to Juliana, grabbing her hand and leading her towards her dad.

“Juls, esta es mi papá,” she introduced, one hand still holding Juliana’s and the other hand gesturing at her dad. “Papá, esta es Juliana, mi mejor amiga,” she added merrily.

Valentina’s dad seemed to mirror her bright smile. “Hello, Juliana,” he said in English.

“Buenas tardes, señor,” Juliana greeted as formally as she could. Valentina’s dad seemed friendly, and he had the same kind eyes as Valentina, but meeting men always put her on her guard. Valentina’s hand in hers made her much calmer than she would have been otherwise, at least. “Mucho gusto.”

“Oh, no sabia que hablas español,” he said, smiling approvingly. “Mucho gusto, también.” He tilted his head as he looked at her. “You know, Valentina has told me so much about you. Apparently, you’re—”

“Can we do this later?” Eva cut in. “We have a ceremony to prepare for and it’s less than—” she checked her watch, “four hours away.”

Her dad could only give Eva a fond smile. “Alright,” he conceded.

The Carvajal patriarch turned towards the door, which opened with a wave of his hand, then gestured for everyone to start moving. Eva led the way out, followed by Mayela and Guille, who was carrying the small enchanted bag containing all of their presents for Valentina as well as the girls’ dresses. Juliana and Nayeli walked just behind them while Valentina and her dad brought up the rear.

Juliana had expected the other side of the door to be a bigger room, but instead, they walked out to the property’s grounds, so large it was dotted with a few trees. A narrow pathway ran from the small structure they had just left, merging with a wider one that went in a few different directions. To the right was a large and imposing gate, which served as the entrance through the thick walls that lined the perimeter of the large property. A couple of guards were standing alert by the gate and several more were walking about the grounds, probably making their rounds.

They took the path to the left; just ahead of them, its facade showing no hints that it belonged to a magical family, was the grand Carvajal mansion. Its large double doors were made of light-coloured wood, its walls white and lined with flowers.

Eva, Guille, and Mayela were making a beeline for the double doors, which had started to open with a wave of Eva’s hand, and Valentina and her dad were right behind them, so Juliana could not take a longer look about the grounds before they all filed inside the mansion.

An old woman was waiting for them at the foyer. Valentina immediately went up to hug her as the woman wished her a happy birthday. Guille and Eva also said their hellos, after which Valentina grabbed Juliana again to introduce her.

The old woman, Chivis, was the _mayordoma_ of the house.

After the introductions, Eva, business-like, began to ask Chivis about the preparations for the ceremony.

“The stylists and make-up artists are already here,” Chivis said in answer to Eva’s question. “They are waiting at the guest house.”

Eva nodded at that. “You three should go up there now,” she said briskly to Juliana, Nayeli, and Mayela. “You can shower there if you need to. Nayeli, Mayela, you know the way right?”

“We still have more than three hours, Eva,” Valentina spoke up before either girl could respond. “And I want to show Juls around first.”

“We still have to prepare,” Eva countered.

“Everything is almost ready,” Chivis spoke up placatingly, “and I can take care of it.”

“Our dresses might need adjustments, Valentina. And before that, I’d like us to practise the spells again. Vale and Guille have practised together, but not nearly enough, and all four of us haven’t practised together.”

“What is there to practise? It’s just spells!” Valentina exclaimed.

Their dad cut in, his voice firm but calm. “Alright, just a couple of run-throughs,” he said. “To make sure we have the timing right.”

Looking cross, Valentina opened her mouth, probably to argue, so Juliana decided to jump in. “Val, it’s alright. We can entertain ourselves,” she added, smiling at the other two girls, who showed their agreement with a nod.

Valentina let out a huff, but she seemed to concede. “Fine. But I need to show Juls up to my room, I’m lending her a pair of shoes,” she said to Eva.

“Fine,” Eva said grudgingly. “You have half an hour.” She aimed a question at Mayela and Nayeli, “You two don’t mind going to get yourselves done up first, don’t you?” Without waiting for a response, she turned to Chivis, “I’ll have a look at the preparations in the meantime. I’ll see you all in the Spell Room,” this last one, she addressed to her father and siblings.

With a final nod, Eva turned on her heels and strode off through a corridor to the right. Chivis let out a small sigh and followed after her while Guille offered to accompany Mayela and Nayeli to the guest house. That left Juliana and Valentina with Valentina’s dad, who let out a chuckle before turning to them.

“Why don’t you two do your, uh, shoe selection,” he said, sounding uncertain, as though he had no idea what that entailed. “I might as well go ahead and prepare the Spell Room, it has been a while since that was used. Juliana, I’m glad to have finally met you. I hope we’ll have time to talk later.”

Juliana swallowed at that. The man made her nervous.

“And Vale, mija, please don’t take long. We _are_ under a time crunch.”

Valentina looked like she wanted to argue, but she seemed to think better of it at a knowing look from her father. “Okay,” she said instead.

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” her dad said, giving her a kiss on the forehead before taking his leave.

When they were finally by themselves, Valentina turned to Juliana. “Welcome to Mexico, Juls. I’m sorry we couldn’t give you a better one,” she said with a pout.

“It’s okay, Val. I didn’t even realise until now that I’ve left the US. That Floo trip took less than half an hour!” She was impressed. “It would have been much longer by Muggle means.”

“Still, this is your first time in the country where your parents were born. It’s— it’s your heritage.”

Juliana became thoughtful. She had always felt out of place in Texas, especially at school with so many white kids, but she didn’t feel like she fully belonged to Mexico either. There were so many things about the country that she didn’t know about. And here, now, in the confines of the Carvajal mansion, it didn’t feel like she was in Mexico.

Not knowing what to say about Valentina’s declaration, Juliana simply gave her an appreciative smile and instead took the opportunity to look around the mansion.

Immediately to their left was what looked like a living area, separated from the foyer by some kind of combination wall-and-fireplace. The right side of the foyer opened to two corridors along its length. Up ahead was a short flight of stairs that turned off to a longer one. Large and well-placed windows allowed sunlight to stream in, brightening up the whole place. Aside from the lack of electronic devices—no TV in the living room, no electric lights on the ceiling—the presence of moving paintings interspersed along the walls, as well as the flowing statue at the stairs’ landing gave away the fact that it was a magical household.

“Your house is huge, Val,” Juliana blurted out, looking up at the high ceiling.

“It can get pretty cold,” Valentina said with a shrug. “Especially in the winter…. I wanted to show you around the whole place, but Eva’s hurrying everyone up and dad’s agreeing with her. It’s my birthday,” she added in a mutter.

Juliana gave her a commiserating smile.

Valentina smiled back and, seemingly realising that she was being petulant, rolled her eyes at herself.

“Come on,” she said, putting an arm around Juliana’s shoulder. “I’ll show you up to my room.”

Juliana followed Valentina’s lead, the two of them walking close enough for Juliana to be able to smell Valentina’s perfume.

Valentina dropped her arm as they climbed up the stairs, effectively putting some distance between them. “So, these are the stairs…” she said, motioning along its length.

Juliana would have made a teasing comment at Valentina stating the obvious but she was still contemplating the smell of her perfume—it had a sweet fragrance, fruity with a hint of something else. It was familiar, from all those times they’d hugged, but this was the first time Juliana had registered it. 

They soon arrived at Valentina’s bedroom. Juliana gazed around it in awe, taking in the space that solely belonged to her best friend. There was a comfortable-looking double bed, a desk that was empty save for a single framed picture, and a day bed underneath the large window. The wall above and to the right of the bed had paintings of birds and butterflies. To the left of the bed and just above the desk was a drawing of the valley below Ilvermorny. It was a redo of the first drawing Juliana had given to Valentina; the original had been done by Muggle means, but Juliana had used magic for the redo so that the trees in the drawing moved as though in a breeze. Next to that drawing and nearest to the window was a photo rack displaying several pictures.

“It’s so pretty,” Juliana let out.

“It hasn’t changed much since I started at Ilvermorny,” said Valentina. “Except for your drawing. And the pictures, I added to those too.”

Juliana walked closer to the photo rack, Valentina hovering behind her. The pictures on the rack were of Valentina and her family and friends, Juliana herself being in several of them. Juliana let her gaze fall to the framed picture on top of the desk; it was of a younger Valentina being held by a woman who could only be her mother.

“I wish she was here now,” Valentina said quietly as she came level with Juliana.

The two of them gazed down at the picture, Valentina’s hands gripping the back of the chair in front of the desk. Juliana shot Valentina a sideways glance before reaching out to put a hand over one of her knuckles, caressing them softly until Valentina loosened her grip on the chair.

Valentina continued speaking. “The spell ritual for the ceremony… the quinceañera’s mom is supposed to have a big part in it. Eva will be taking her place, but it’s not the same.”

Valentina’s eyes were watery, her mouth downturned.

Juliana didn’t know what to say. She had never thought that she herself would have a big quinceañera party, but she knew that she would want her mother in it, even if it would just be a small dinner. She couldn’t imagine what Valentina must be feeling now, having to go through an important ceremony without her mom.

Juliana turned fully towards Valentina. “Hey,” she started, moving her hand up to rest on Valentina’s arm. “Ven.”

That seemed to be all the entreaty Valentina needed. She turned around to sink into Juliana’s offered hug, her head falling onto Juliana’s shoulder. There was that fragrant smell again, but Juliana filed it away in her mind. Instead, she kept her arms tight around her best friend. Valentina was hurting and Juliana’s heart hurt to know it. She wished there was something more she could do beyond a hug.

After several minutes, Valentina pulled away, eyes red and looking a little embarrassed. “Perdon,” she said, wiping at her tears. “I’m being so dramatic,” she added, rolling her eyes.

Juliana shook her head fervently. “Val, you’re not.” She wished she was wise enough to know exactly what to say about having lost a loved one. “Dramatic is making people start getting dressed like four hours before an event,” she said instead, recalling how Eva hurried everyone up. “Or making you practise something you already know very well.”

Valentina blinked, and then let out a short chuckle, her lips stretching out into a small smile. It wasn’t quite a _happy_ one, but Juliana could see that the storminess in her eyes had started to dissipate.

“Eva’s such a stickler for schedule,” Valentina said in English. There was no real heat in her voice; she was only adding on to Juliana’s poor attempt at a joke.

Juliana nodded, mockingly solemn. “Time is money,” she replied, also in English, quoting a phrase she’d heard somewhere.

Valentina snorted. “Ven,” she said, switching back to Spanish. She wiped away the last of her tears with one hand while grabbing Juliana’s hand with the other. “Let’s find you a pair of shoes before Eva comes up here and tells us we’re behind _by a minute_.”


	11. 6-2 - Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On HP Canon: _Lumos_ is a spell where you produce a light at the tip of your wand.
> 
> On the quinceañera: I took a lot of liberties with the ceremony here. I did read up on what a quinceañera celebration entails. The more traditional customs are rooted in religion (Catholicism), but religion isn't really a big thing in the magical world. However, the coming-of-age at fifteen thing dates back to pre-colonial Aztec culture. The way I imagine it, the quinceañera got tied up with religion in the Muggle world, but in the magical world, it signifies the age when girls were allowed to do magic without a guardian. (I also imagine that boys didn't use to have age requirements on when they can do magic without guardians, but that changed not necessarily for equality but for the kids' own safety.)

Valentina’s quinceañera ceremony began just as the sun had set.

Chivis and Guille had ushered the guests outside to a wide lawn facing a large pool. The lawn was dotted with flowers and colourful plants, the whole area dimly bathed with the faint ambient light coming from the pool.

Valentina had given Juliana a general idea about what to do during the ceremony, telling Juliana to look to her brother for guidance. Following Guille’s cue, Juliana stepped next to him as everyone started forming a loose circle in the middle of the lawn. The circle of guests had two wide gaps: one nearest to the pool and the other directly across from it.

Valentina’s guests consisted of Juliana, most of the Mexican Ilvermorny students, some of Valentina’s childhood friends who went to Castelobruxo, and a few adults. There was an air of muted excitement among them. Some of the guests were talking to each other in a low whisper, but they all fell silent when Eva appeared from a doorway by the far end of the pool.

The eldest of the Carvajal siblings walked slowly along the pool’s length. When she reached the circle of guests, she entered through the gap near the pool and kept walking until she got to the gap on the far side, closing the circle on that end. She was carrying a wooden box that Juliana knew held Valentina’s wand.

Soon after, Valentina appeared with her father from the same doorway that Eva had exited.

Juliana’s breath caught in her throat as she gazed at her best friend.

Valentina looked ethereal in her lavender dress, the tiny gems dotted along its bodice reflecting the light from the pool. Her hair was done up in a bun; loose strands framed her face and fell in graceful waves down her shoulders. Her accessories were of the highest-quality silver—Goblin-made, Nayeli had almost jealously observed when they’d been getting dressed up. Valentina’s earrings and necklace drew attention to her face, her neck, her collarbones. Her silver bracelet—which, at Eva’s insistence, she’d worn instead of the friendship bracelet from Juliana—rested delicately around her wrist.

Valentina was shining.

Juliana had already seen Valentina in the dress when they were getting done up together with the other girls. She thought then that her best friend had looked so pretty, but now it struck her again as Valentina slowly walked up to the circle. Juliana was convinced that even if Valentina had been wearing a simpler dress, she would still have outshined everyone there. Valentina was just so pretty. In fact, Juliana thought that Valentina was the prettiest girl she had seen, ever.

Valentina came up to the circle with her dad, both of them pausing at the gap. She shot a smile Juliana’s way. Juliana smiled back, her insides fizzing warmly.

Valentina and her dad stepped into the circle, the gap closing behind them as they walked up to Eva. When Valentina was right in front of her, Eva flipped open the box she was holding, presenting Valentina’s wand. Hands shaking, Valentina picked up her wand, her movement slow and reverent.

The box in Eva’s hand disappeared. Both Eva and their father drew out their wands. Valentina stepped to the side, looking towards Juliana with a nervous smile. Juliana smiled back reassuringly.

In the middle of the circle, Eva and Señor Carvajal performed a series of spells, starting with a Lumos, going through levitation and conjuration magics, and ending with a simple wandless charm that had a gentle breeze going around the circle.

That done, Eva and Señor Carvajal joined the people forming the circle as Valentina stepped forward. One by one, she deliberately looked at everybody surrounding her, her eyes holding Juliana’s for a moment before landing on Guille next to her.

Taking that as his cue, Guille moved into the circle, wand at the ready. He was Valentina’s chosen escort. The role was different from what Juliana knew, though she had been given to understand that it usually went to a boy outside of the celebrant’s family, like a friend or a boyfriend. Juliana tried not to wonder why Valentina had chosen her brother instead.

Valentina and Guille went through the exact same spells that Eva and their dad had performed. Then they went further, performing their own combination of spells. Finally, Guille went back to his place in the circle. Valentina performed a series of spells by herself, ending in a charm that had flower petals swirling upwards around her and vanishing as they floated above her head.

Juliana was barely blinking as she watched the whole thing. She was so mesmerised that she almost forgot to do the one thing she was supposed to do with everyone else: cast a Lumos as Valentina finished the last of her spells. When Juliana drew out her wand to do just that, it was warm to the touch and thrumming, as though it could sense the thick air of magic brought about by Valentina’s spells.

For several breaths, the whole place was bright with the light coming from dozens of wands, then everyone extinguished their wands, started clapping, and began to sing the first familiar thing to Juliana: Las Mañanitas.

The circle broke soon after as floating lights went on above them and people moved to approach Valentina, wishing her a happy birthday.

A couple of long tables, along with chairs, popped up at the edge of the lawn. Chivis began ushering everyone who wasn’t greeting Valentina towards the tables, where food worthy of a celebratory feast had appeared.

Juliana remained on her spot, uncertain, as she looked at the girls who were surrounding Valentina. All of the other girls’ dresses were very pretty, clearly bought from expensive shops if not made especially for the occasion. It made Juliana self-conscious of her flowery-green dress, which she’d bought from a catalogue of second-hand dresses. She’d had to adjust the dress by Muggle means because she didn’t know how to do it by magic. Her shoes were borrowed from Valentina, as was the necklace that Valentina had insisted she wore. The only thing of hers that could match the elegance of the occasion were the earrings she was wearing, which Valentina had gifted to her for her thirteenth birthday several months ago.

When Valentina’s friends dispersed, some of whom glancing at Juliana, she rubbed her hand along the skirt of her dress, straightening imaginary creases. But Valentina was now facing her, wearing an expectant smile and looking so radiant in _her_ dress, that Juliana stopped thinking about her own. She returned Valentina’s smile as she approached her.

“That was really amazing, Val,” Juliana couldn’t help but gush.

Valentina’s smile seemed to turn shy. She placed her hands behind her back, bending her head downwards so she was looking at Juliana through her lashes.

Valentina, uncharacteristically, wasn’t saying anything, so Juliana continued talking. “You know, in Muggle celebrations, the quinceañera just dances. I didn’t know spells and charms could be used that way.” Juliana knew Valentina had been practising something with Guille, but she hadn’t realised what it really meant until she saw it happening right before her eyes. “Es tan increíble!”

“Well,” Valentina finally spoke, “it’s a good thing this isn’t a Muggle celebration, because I can’t dance.”

They grinned at each other for several seconds, and then simultaneously burst out laughing, dispelling the lingering awkwardness that Juliana was feeling.

“No te creo,” Juliana said, disbelieving. Valentina had looked so graceful when casting those spells and she was always graceful when flying on a broom.

“Es verdad,” Valentina said, letting her hands fall to her sides. “Yo no sé bailar.”

Juliana gave her a doubtful look. Dancing was one of the easiest and most enjoyable activities she could think of. She remembered copying her mom as Lupé would follow after some dance steps on TV. And back in Muggle school, it was one of the activities that Juliana liked to participate in. Ilvermorny didn’t have subjects that required students to dance, which was a shame.

Before Juliana could express her disbelief once again, Valentina continued speaking. “You look really pretty in that dress, by the way,” she said, her voice just slightly softer than normal.

Valentina had made the same observation when they were getting dressed up, and it caused the same reaction in Juliana as it had done then. Her face heated up in embarrassment and pleasure; she covered by looking away and letting out a scoff. Glancing back at Valentina, she saw that her best friend was wearing an honest and open smile.

“Uhm, you look pretty too,” Juliana blurted out. She meant it, she really did—Valentina was so pretty, Juliana alternated between wanting to stare at her the whole time and looking away because she _shone_ —but for some reason, Juliana felt shy about saying it out loud.

Valentina, seemingly not minding her clumsy compliment, simply beamed at Juliana.

Dinner was a less formal affair than the magical ceremony, but just as rich with tradition, commencing with a toast from Valentina’s dad. The food was rich and plentiful, most of which were familiar Mexican cuisine, though some had a magical twist.

Juliana was seated next to Valentina, who was next to her dad. Señor Carvajal made good on his promise to talk more with Juliana, Valentina looking back and forth between the two of them. He asked her about school, about how she knew Spanish, about her parents, and about the Muggle world, of which he seemed to have more knowledge than the average wizard. It was clear to Juliana that Valentina got her kindness and openness from her dad. He made Juliana feel at ease, but she was still glad when Señor Carvajal turned to talk to Eva and Mateo, allowing Juliana and Valentina to join the conversation Valentina’s friends were having about popular musical groups.

When everyone had their fill of dinner and desserts, Chivis waved her hand and made the last traces of food disappear. Eva stood up and declared it was time to give Valentina her presents, which appeared on the table as Eva waved her hand. Eva sat back down while Guille took her place. One by one, he handed presents from certain people to Valentina, starting with the one from Valentina’s dad and ending with Guille’s own. Juliana was glad that her gift wasn’t included in the ceremonious presentation, as Valentina had to open them right in front of everyone. She didn’t think she could compete with the silver-and-diamond necklace from Eva or the silver coin from Señor Carvajal which seemed to be the magical version of a credit card.

A final toast from Señor Carvajal and one more round of greetings marked the end of the celebrations.

Valentina and her siblings opted to stay overnight in their home, planning to return to Ilvermorny early the following morning. At Valentina’s request, Juliana and the other girls their age would also be staying the night for a sleepover at the guest house.

After changing into more comfortable clothes, they gathered in the guest house’s living area and started the sleepover by giving their presents to Valentina, which ranged from jewelry to books to magical make-up kits.

Juliana’s gifts for Valentina were several pieces of magically-modified Muggle tops. The idea came about because Valentina had sometimes expressed admiration for Juliana’s Muggle shirts, and she’d looked so good in the letterman jacket Sierra had lent her several months ago. With Lupé’s help, Juliana had ordered a plain Muggle jacket as well as several plain shirts. Juliana had been learning how to do magical designs on her own shirts; she’d used that knowledge, along with the spells she’d learned when making those Quidditch banners, to design Valentina’s gifts. One of the shirts had a Golden Snitch that flew all around it, another had a puppy that slept in one corner of the shirt and woke up if it was jostled, and another had flowers around the hem that seemed to sway in the wind. The jacket had taken the most time to design, as it could switch between a night sky full of stars that actually twinkled and a clear daytime sky with wispy floating clouds.

Juliana felt nervous about her presents for Valentina; they weren’t quite as expensive as the other girls’ presents and she was self-conscious about showing something she’d made to people she had just met. Her nervousness dissipated when Valentina gushed so effusively after opening her presents, giving Juliana a tight hug and whispering thank yous in her ear.

When Valentina had opened all the presents from everyone, they started chatting among themselves. To Juliana’s chagrin, Nayeli brought up the topic of boys; worse still, one of the other girls asked Valentina about Charles; and just to make things even more uncomfortable, another girl asked Juliana if she fancied or was dating a particular boy. Thankfully, Valentina steered them to another topic when Juliana stammered through a non-answer for several seconds.

They spent a couple of hours talking until sleep took priority. One by one, the girls went to the rooms prepared for them until it was only Juliana and Valentina left in the guest house’s living area.

They sat side by side on the long couch, their feet propped up on the coffee table. Valentina was wearing the jacket Juliana had given her, making its design switch every few minutes by tapping her wand on the sun or moon situated on the jacket’s shoulder. Valentina gasped in awe when the jacket, currently in its night mode, showed a shooting star streaking down the length of one arm.

Juliana chuckled at Valentina’s reaction. “Disfrutaste tu fiesta?” She kept her voice just above a whisper as she asked Valentina if she enjoyed her birthday celebration.

It was past midnight. Nothing steered around them. The lights were dimmed so that they could see the backlit swimming pool outside through the guest house’s glass wall.

“Sí,” Valentina said contentedly. “Tú?”

Juliana gave her best friend a sideways glance. “It’s your party,” she pointed out. It shouldn’t matter what Juliana thought.

“Yes, but did you enjoy it?” Valentina insisted on asking.

Relenting, Juliana answered, “Sí. Es muy increíble, Val. Those spells you did, I’ve never seen anything so… magical. You were amazing.”

Valentina looked down at her hands as she played with the friendship bracelet Juliana had given her, which she’d put back on after changing out of her dress. “Gracias, I’m glad you liked it,” she said, sounding almost shy again. She began to shift, and Juliana soon felt Valentina’s shoulder against hers. “And thank you for the presents, again. I’m going to wear the flower shirt for the party this weekend.”

Valentina was going to have a party with their friends at Ilvermorny that hadn’t come to the quinceañera celebration. Juliana had initially assumed that not everyone wanted to leave school on a weeknight, especially so close to the finals, but she was beginning to think there was another reason for it.

“Hey Val, how come Charles couldn’t attend the one now?” Juliana asked. She’d been wondering why _he_ , at least, hadn’t come with them. She hadn’t asked before because she preferred not to talk about him, preferred not to think that Valentina was dating someone, but she found it odd that the other girls hadn’t seemed surprised that he wasn’t at the party when they’d grilled Valentina about him.

Valentina let out a breath. “Well, traditionally, we don’t really invite anyone outside the Mexican magical community to quinceañera celebrations.”

“But… I’m not part of the Mexican magical community,” Juliana pointed out, leaving unsaid the question of why she’d been invited.

“Yes you are,” said Valentina. “Your parents are from Mexico.”

“But they’re Muggles.”

“They still count! We can’t exclude someone from their magical heritage just because they’re Muggle-born.”

Juliana frowned. It sounded like Valentina had made that argument before, to someone who had thought that Juliana _wasn’t_ part of the Mexican magical community. “Val, I— I could have just gone to your party this weekend. You didn’t have to go to so much trouble for me to attend this one.”

“Juls,” Valentina said, sitting up so she was facing Juliana completely. “It was no trouble at all,” she said firmly. “Besides, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this as much if you weren’t here. Okay?”

Juliana opened her mouth to argue, but the determined expression Valentina was wearing gave her pause. “Okay,” she said instead, quietly.

Juliana broke eye contact and looked down at her hands, which she’d rested on her lap. She felt a gentle warmth spreading from her chest, rising to her face so she knew it was becoming pink.

Although she had done her best to hide it, Juliana hadn’t exactly been thrilled when Valentina started dating Charles. She reasoned to herself that it was because she didn’t want her best friend to hang out with her less often. Juliana had seen how some older girls in school always spent time with their boyfriends; she’d feared that Valentina would do that. To her relief, that had not been the case. She and Valentina still spent most of their time together so it was easy to forget that Valentina had a boyfriend, which was good because Juliana preferred not to think about it. She didn’t know what it was about him—whether it was his smarmy smile or his overly-friendly attitude—but Juliana did not like Charles.

It felt really good to know that Valentina had gone to the hassle of inviting her when she didn’t even invite _him_. Juliana felt appreciated. Important.

When Juliana glanced back at Valentina, her best friend was still gazing at her. Valentina’s eyes were dark in the dim lights but she was so close that Juliana could see their blue hues.

Juliana looked away. “Ugh, we’re gonna have to go back to school tomorrow,” she said, covering her inexplicable nervousness.

Valentina relaxed back on the couch so that they were shoulder to shoulder once again. “I know what you mean,” she replied, taking in stride the abrupt change in tack. “The Quidditch season is over and I’m still behind on my assignments,” she put an arm over her forehead with a dramatic flair. “ _And_ I haven’t studied much for finals.”

Juliana grunted commiseratingly. “I can’t wait for the summer break.”

Valentina was quiet for several moments. When Juliana looked sideways at her, she was already staring back. “Would you like to come over here for the summer?” she asked carefully. “Just for a few weeks, to visit.”

“Val, I—” Juliana hesitated. Coming to visit Valentina for the summer meant she wouldn’t have to wait a couple of months to see her, but it also meant having to leave her mother alone when she didn’t have to. Chino had shown up at the trailer a couple of months ago only to disappear just the previous week, but there was no telling when he would show his face again. She felt guilty at the thought of not being at the trailer — for anything other than school — to keep her mother company in case Chino showed up during the summer.

“Hey, it’s okay, Juls,” Valentina said gently. “You don’t have to say yes. I know it’s a long shot,” she shrugged slightly, giving Juliana what was clearly a forced smile.

The worst feeling in the world was seeing the disappointed look on Valentina’s face.

Making a decision, Juliana replied, “I’ll ask my mom, okay? In person, when I go home for the summer.”

“Yeah?” Valentina asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” Juliana promised, nodding.

Valentina held out her pinky finger towards Juliana. Juliana laughed, but she complied and locked her own pinky with Valentina’s proffered one.

Letting out a whispered squeal, Valentina threw her arms around Juliana and declared, “This is the best birthday ever.”


	12. 7 - Last Day Blues

Valentina held on to Juliana’s hand as they walked the familiar corridors that led to Ilvermorny’s Entrance Hall while Guille kept in stride next to them. Valentina’s and Guille’s enchanted trunks trudged behind; Juliana’s luggage was held in place on top of Valentina’s with a temporary Sticking Charm so Juliana didn’t have to pull it behind her.

It was time to go home for the summer.

Throughout the day, Ilvermorny students had been heading for the Entrance Hall to take the Floo. Valentina and Juliana had waited until late in the afternoon to start leaving, and Guille had decided to wait for Valentina so they could go home together. Eva had been in the Entrance Hall since that morning, helping the teachers usher the students in queues to the fireplaces. Most of their friends, excited for their summers to start, had already left before lunchtime. 

Valentina had said goodbye to Sierra and her other classmates earlier. Charles had also dropped by the Pukwudgie dormitories to say goodbye to Valentina. He had been particularly apologetic when Valentina went out to see him in the hallway outside the common room. He would be visiting dragon reserves all over the world with his parents for his summer vacation, and he was regretting the fact that he and Valentina wouldn’t be able to talk to each other a lot over the break because of it. Valentina honestly did not see what the problem was. He had promised to contact her the old-fashioned way, by sending owls. Valentina thought that was enough. She was even looking forward to his letters; she would like to hear about dragons.

Presently, Valentina, Juliana, and Guille arrived at the Entrance Hall.

It was late in the day, so the crowd of students were starting to dwindle. Only a few of the teachers and prefects had remained, but Eva and the Head Boy were still there. They were standing off to one side with a few of the sixth-year prefects, discussing what was no doubt official school business.

Eva hadn’t noticed their arrival but Mateo, who was one of the prefects who had remained, waved at them from across the Hall. Professor Borges was also still there. She had been talking to a Muggle-born seventh-year, but she headed in their direction when the seventh-year Flooed away.

“Hola,” she greeted as she reached them. “Are you leaving now?”

“Hola Professor,” Valentina chorused with Juliana and Guille. “We’ll head out with Eva,” Valentina continued, indicating herself and her brother. “But Juls has to go now,” she added, squeezing her best friend’s hand. “Her mom is already waiting for her at the Floo station in San Antonio.”

Professor Borges nodded in understanding, walking in step with them as they headed for an open fireplace.

Juliana turned to Valentina as they stopped in front of the fireplace. She gave her a regretful smile; Valentina returned it with a pout; Juliana pouted back at her; both of them held on to their expressions until Valentina broke into a resigned smile.

Professor Borges cleared her throat. “Well, have a good summer, Juliana. And please, don’t hesitate to contact me if you ever need anything.”

Juliana looked at Professor Borges and gave a short nod. “Thanks, Professor.”

“Don’t hesitate to contact me every day,” Valentina chimed in. “I mean, if you can.”

Juliana needed to be the one to initiate contact when she was in the Muggle world. She’d explained to Valentina that she did not want to risk Valentina calling if her father was around. It made Valentina want to stop Juliana from going home and bring her back to the Carvajal home instead, but Juliana had always been hesitant about leaving her mother alone if she didn’t have to. Valentina hoped that Juliana would at least visit her in Mexico this summer, even if it was just for a few days.

“I will,” Juliana said with a soft smile, her tone a promise.

Valentina felt like her heart was slowly being pulled out of her chest. She let go of Juliana’s hand only to wrap her in a tight embrace.

“Te extrañare,” she whispered.

“I’ll miss you too, Val.”

Regretfully, Valentina let go, smiling a sad smile that mirrored Juliana’s.

Juliana turned to get her luggage but Guille had already unstuck it from Valentina’s trunk.

“Have a good break, Juliana,” Guille said as he handed over her luggage.

“Thanks Guille, you too,” she said. She bid goodbye to him and to Professor Borges before turning back to Valentina. “I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”

Valentina nodded eagerly. “Yes, please. And let me know if your mom’s okay with you coming to visit for a few weeks.”

“I will.”

Unable to help herself, Valentina leaned over and kissed Juliana on the cheek. Juliana cleared her throat when Valentina stepped back, but she didn’t seem inclined to say anything else.

“I’ll talk to you soon, okay?” Valentina said hopefully.

“Okay,” Juliana nodded. Softly, she added, “Bye, Val.”

“Bye,” Valentina replied in the same tone.

With that, Juliana turned to scoop a handful of Floo powder from a nearby container and threw it at the fire. With the flames turning the harmless green of an open Floo connection, Juliana stepped into the fireplace, sending one last glance Valentina’s way before yelling out her destination.

Valentina gazed at Juliana until she was whooshed away by the fire, sighing when she disappeared. Her heart ached. It had only been a second and she missed her best friend already. She hoped Juliana would get to visit her over the summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things:
> 
> 1\. If you are still reading this, thank you for sticking with me. I'm beginning to realise that this is going _really_ slowly, I don't think _I_ I would have the patience to stick with it had I not been the one writing it. (I would have waited until it was done, lol.)
> 
> So thank you for reading, giving kudos, and especially for commenting. 😊
> 
> 2\. Juls will indeed be visiting Val for the summer, and I'll be writing the fic for that. I actually started writing that "summer fic" way back in February. I got ~10K words in when I realised that I need to write this fic first, otherwise I'll need to do a lot of explanation about what happened for their 4th and 2nd years. Now, more than half of what I've written for that "summer fic" will probably be scrapped because there were some things that made no sense. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> 3\. If you're curious about when the "good stuff" will happen (ie: when Juls & Val will realise their feelings for each other), I shared an outline [here](https://estamos-destinadas.tumblr.com/post/190437502590) about how it would go. That hasn't changed.
> 
> Once again, thank you for sticking with me. 😅


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